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This study evaluates the use of virtual reality (VR) platforms, which is an integrated part of the digital factory for an industrial training and maintenance system. The digital factory-based VR platform provides an intuitive and immersive human-computer interface, which can be an efficient tool for industrial training and maintenance services. The outcomes from this study suggested that use of the VR platform for training and maintenance of complex industrial tasks should be encouraged and use of the VR platform for that purpose should be further evaluated. This paper highlighted the generic concept of the application of virtual reality technique within the digital factory to industrial maintenance and to build a low-cost VR application for a training and maintenance system. An application case on virtual reality technique in a power plant operations and maintenance is demonstrated within the scope of this research. Overall research implications on virtual reality concept in industrial applications are concluded with future research directions.

This study solved a practical problem in a case in the sheet metal industry using machine learning and deep learning algorithms. The problem in the case company was related to detecting the minimum gaps between components, which were produced after the punching operation of a metal sheet. Due to the narrow gaps between the components, an automated sheer machine could not grip the rest of the sheet skeleton properly after the punching operation. This resulted in some of the scraped sheet on the worktable being left behind, which needed a human operator to intervene. This caused an extra trigger to the production line that resulted in a break in production. To solve this critical problem, the relevant images of the components and the gaps between them were analyzed using machine learning and deep learning techniques. The outcome of this study contributed to eliminating the production bottleneck by optimizing the gaps between the punched components. This optimization process facilitated the easy and safe movement of the gripper machine and contributed to minimizing the sheet waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]