VR/AR Lab Installation (2021-06-30)

Accomplishing the major milestone of the Teaching Factory Project of the DMIE, the AR/VR Lab at the DMIE was declared open on the 30th of July, 2021. The VR hardware for the Lab was fully sponsored by the Association for Professor Sanath Ranthunga Memorial Fund (APSRMF). Madam Ranatunga, Mr Gamini De Alwis (President of the APSRMF), Mr T.G.Weerasinghe (Treasurer of the APSRMF), and some family members of Late Professor Sanath Ranathunga were present in a charm ceremony to mark this event. Some of the DMIE staff members also attended the event.

During the opening ceremony, Dr Asela Kulatunga and Dr Prasanna Illankoon gave an overview of the Factories of Future initiative of DMIE and role of AV/VR technologies in this roadmap. Ms Yoshika Alahakoon (one of the former instructors) who played a major role in the first phase of this project presented some of the AV tools already developed for Manufacturing Engineering Education at DMIE. Mr Nuwan Dissanayaka, presented the ongoing developments of the Smart Lab concept of DMIE. Furthermore, an invited talk was delivered by Professor Philip Tretten of Luleå University of Technology (LTU) on current trends of AV/VR Technologies in global context and ongoing collaborations between DMIE and LTU.. The team of MIE students who are working on developing the CAD models and VR environments demonstrated their project work to the delegates. Mr Alwis delivered a short speech expressing his blessings for the project and appreciated the commitment of DMIE staff and students towards embarrassing new technologies and the motivation shown.

AR/VR Lab Installation. Accomplishing the major milestone of the Teaching Factory Project of the DMIE, the AR/VR Lab at the DMIE was declared open on the 30th of July, 2021. The VR hardware for the Lab was fully sponsored by the Association for Professor Sanath Ranthunga Memorial Fund (APSRMF). Madam Ranatunga, Mr Gamini De Alwis (President of the APSRMF), Mr T.G.Weerasinghe (Treasurer of the APSRMF), and some family members of Late Professor Sanath Ranathunga were present in a charm ceremony to mark this event. Some of the DMIE staff members also attended the event.

We at DMIE want to thank the Professor Sanath Ranthunga Memorial Fund with regard to the recent research grant awarded to the DMIE AR/VR Teaching Factory Research Cluster. This generous contribution is making a remarkable improvement in the setting up of the AR/VR Teaching Factory at the DMIE. This will definitely accelerate our plan to enhance students' Designing and Manufacturing competencies by allowing them to interact with virtual machines, and disseminating that knowledge to the industry. The grant is a great catalyst for resembling the Late Professor Sanath Ranathungas drive for "Designing and Manufacturing". We gratefully acknowledge the grant of LKR 300,000 and very much appreciate the Executive Committee of the Professor Sanath Ranthunga Memorial Fund, for this award.

Engineer (Mr) T.G. Weerasinghe, Treasurer, Professor Sanath Ranthunga Memorial Fund handing over the cheque to Dr Prasanna Illankoon, DMIE.