A university technology centre has been celebrating the completion of a £6m expansion with a virtual gathering.
Coventry University’s Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) has opened new teaching spaces, including six new laboratories and a robotics and testing area.
The facilities will also allow students to attend lectures remotely, using 3D computer-generated models of the facilities and avatars to represent the attendees.
Marcos Kauffman, director of the centre, said the gathering, which took place earlier, was the beginning of a “new chapter” enabling it to be “at the forefront of innovative teaching”.
Some of the guests at the official reopening have been appearing as virtual avatars, joining guests attending in-person.
They were able to move their avatar around a digital replica of the AME base and join in the sessions remotely, as well as interacting with other people in the metaverse and those at the event in person.
The AME opened in 2014 and the new expansion was part funded via a £1m grant from the government’s Local Growth Fund.
It was set up as a partnership with Unipart manufacturing and its managing director, Carol Burke, said it was addressing the “skills and technology gaps in our industry”.
