MeccanoVR: Learning Assembly by Building

Developed for Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), MeccanoVR makes assembly learning active from the first interaction. Students build two vehicle types—an F1 car and a Jeep—through virtual sets of parts, practising how to identify a component, understand its purpose, place it in relation to the rest, and check the result.

Manipulate the Parts Before the Whole

Users can pick up, rotate, and inspect the pieces required for the build. As individual components become subassemblies, they align near the central assembly point. Text boxes explain the function of selected parts so the user is not only following a placement instruction; they can also connect the part to its role in the larger vehicle.

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Individual parts can be connected back to the vehicle they will become.

Move From Tutorial to Evaluation

The experience offers a tutorial mode and an evaluation mode for both vehicle builds. In the tutorial, a guide narrates the process and responds to errors or successful actions. In the evaluation, the user assembles the vehicle independently and receives a passed or failed result together with the time taken. The shift gives the same project a clear learning arc: guided practice first, then a chance to perform the sequence without assistance.

An Assembly Exercise With a Visible Logic

The value of the experience is in making the logic of an assembly accessible. Parts can be examined from more than one angle, functions can be introduced as the build progresses, and the complete object is only reached through a series of understandable subassemblies. That structure makes the virtual task a useful canvas for teaching sequence, spatial relationships, and independent practice.

• Handle and inspect the components needed for each build.
• Learn through guided subassemblies and part-function explanations.
• Practice the full sequence independently in evaluation mode.