SUN PHARMA (Cleanroom Environment)
VR Filling Line Assembly
An immersive cleanroom training simulation designed to teach sterile maintenance, gowning, and filling line assembly procedures.
Video summary
The demo shows a cleanroom VR workflow for gowning, restricted access, mandatory hand sanitization, component placement, filling-line assembly, torque-spanner bolting, vacuum setup, wipe-down, and GMP-compliant validation.
The context
Pharmaceutical production on filling lines is governed by strict Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations. A single contamination event in an aseptic cleanroom can ruin an entire production batch, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Traditionally, training operators on gowning, sterile entry, and machinery assembly was high-risk, took the production line offline, and hazarded batch integrity. To solve this, Sun Pharma needed a virtual digital twin of the cleanroom to practice these procedures to fluency with zero risk of real-world contamination.
The challenge
The primary challenge was simulating aseptic behaviors as programmatic rules. It wasn't enough for the trainee to place parts; they had to maintain sterile status by frequently sanitizing their hands in VR. Additionally, we had to model detailed mechanics of the filling line: heavy cabinet doors, sterile trolleys containing replacement parts, vacuum pneumatic hose lines, and custom bolts requiring a torque spanner to seal. Every action had to comply with rigorous GMP guidelines, scored dynamically in real time.
The Scored Guided Procedure
The VR training session runs the operator through a structured, multi-step sterile checklist:
1. Gowning & Access Control
Trainees must retrieve and don a secondary gowning kit including a cleanroom hood, coverall, booties, goggles, and gloves. They enter the restricted machine room by pressing the push-to-exit buttons.
2. Mandatory Hand Sanitization
Operators must sanitize their hands using trigger-based sanitizer dispensers before touching any tool, cabinet door, or machine part. Moving between sections without sanitizing triggers a validation error.
3. Component Retrieval & Placement
Trainees open machine glass cabinets by grabbing handles, retrieve tools/parts from storage trolleys, and position components like stopper holding units, vibrating bowls, and manifold lines.
4. Wrench Bolting & Vacuum Setup
Technicians utilize virtual tools like torque spanners to tighten specific critical bolts while system-assisted threads tighten other components automatically. Trainees must also run vacuum hoses to pneumatic valves.
5. Cleanroom Wipe-down & Finalization
Using sterile cloths from the inventory trolley, operators wipe down machine internals, dispose of used cloths in hazardous waste bins, secure the cabinet doors, and sanitize hands before leaving the station.
Technical Highlights
- Sterile Compliance State Machine: Enforces the sanitization-touch logic, monitoring that the player's hands are sanitized before interacting with any aseptic component.
- Automatic & Manual Bolting Thread Solvers: Implements custom tightening algorithms for complex machinery bolts, simulating authentic torque resistance.
- Pneumatic Tube Rigging: Simulates realistic spline-based vacuum hoses connecting to valves with visual plug-in feedback.