Dr. Christopher Shelton, director of the VAR Lab, center, and student researcher, Remington Orange, right, discuss a virtual reality project with a Snap-tite Hose employee.
Penn State Behrend students recently completed a virtual reality project that brings a local manufacturer’s operations to life in an immersive digital format.
A team from the college’s Virtual and Augmented Reality (VAR) Lab developed a 3D/360° tour for Snap-tite Hose, a fire hose manufacturer with facilities in Erie and Union City. The project gives the company a modern way to showcase its Quality Assurance testing lab to prospective customers and industry partners, demonstrating what separates Snap-tite from competitors in a format that is more engaging than traditional brochures or flat video.
“Our goal was to help Snap-tite show, not just tell, what superior quality assurance looks like,” said Dr. Chris Shelton, associate professor of clinical psychology and director of the VAR Lab. “They test above industry standards and make products with properties no competitor can match. The immersive tour builds customer confidence by letting people experience those rigorous processes firsthand. They didn’t want a simple tech demo; they wanted a functional tool they could use immediately.”
Remington Orange, a Digital Media, Arts, and Technology major, and Tyler Wenzel, a Mechanical Engineering Technology major, led the build, closely supported by Shelton. The structure allowed the team to move fast and turn partner feedback into practical updates on a tight three-month schedule.
“We prioritized stereoscopic depth and seamless VR navigation because credibility is the whole point of a partner-facing tour,” Shelton said.
Orange and Wenzel made multiple site visits to both Snap-tite locations to document the facility in detail. The resulting application allows users to navigate the QA lab by jumping between 3D/360° content and exploring the space in an interactive way.
“We integrated 3D models, instructional videos, and interactive user interface elements to create an immersive 3D tour,” Orange said. The team captured both traditional 2D video and 3D/360° footage of machinery in operation. Voice-over narration from Snap-tite staff guides users through each stage of the process.
“The immersive footage added depth,” Shelton said. “When it’s viewed on a VR headset, it feels much more immersive, like you are physically there, as opposed to a flat 360 image or video.”
The project exemplifies Behrend’s Open Lab model of learning, which positions the college as a “living laboratory” where students and faculty partner with industry to address real-world challenges.
“What the group delivered is something Snap-tite can rely on, and it reflects the kind of real-world work our students graduate ready to perform,” Shelton said.