Design and Evaluation of a Collaborative XR Framework with Abstract Building Blocks for Manufacturing System Prototyping

Manufacturing systems are complex installations designed and developed by stakeholders with differing expertise. However, system design primarily features traditional methods, long lead times, and siloed environments, which obstruct comprehension, communication, or collaboration. Prior research has used extended reality (XR) to prototype and visualise specific manufacturing applications; however, flexible system modelling remains complex. To address these issues and lay the foundation for future-facing manufacturing design as part of Industry 4.0, we introduce ARTIFY—a prototype XR framework for conceptual system prototyping. It features abstract building blocks that can be semantically reconfigured to support early-stage modelling of varied manufacturing systems in immersive environments. This paper describes ARTIFY and presents an initial think-aloud evaluation. Participants perceived ARTIFY to enhance their spatial comprehension of systems, with users reporting excellent spatial presence, reflected in a mean Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) score of 5.14. They further reported subjective preferences for spatially organising system components when compared to “normal post-it notes”. However, the evaluation also highlighted key areas for improvement around usability, such as text input via the virtual keyboard, which requires further iteration to better support rapid user engagement. We conclude by discussing the implications for future industrial applications.