Di Xia and Xiaoshi Dai · CLIENT: Di Xia
Cece is a virtual reality career mentor designed for manufacturing students. Cece combines a VR headset with interactive interfaces so students can explore industry roles, experience workplace environments and practice job related skills. A voice driven artificial intelligence agent guides users through personalized onboarding, career exploration and skill training. Progress is tracked and feedback is given to support learning goals. The system aims to lower training costs and close the gap between academic study and industry requirements.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Cece is an interactive VR career mentor designed for manufacturing students on campus, to holistically enhancing their education experience and help them explore industry roles, experience real workplace environments, and build job-ready skills at a low cost and accessible while bridging the gap between academic training and real industry requirements.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Digital Product
- Tags
- VR, Immersive Learning, Skill Training, Career Advancing,Education Tech, Accessibility
- Production Technology
- This product combines a VR headset with interactive interfaces within a virtual environment to enable students to explore careers and develop job related skills.
- Design Challenge
- The most challenging part was designing the right balance between immersion and guidance. In a VR environment, it’s easy to create visually rich experiences, but without clear structure, users can feel lost. At the same time, adding too much guidance can break immersion and make the experience feel rigid. The challenge was to design a system where users could freely explore while still receiving the right level of support. This led us to introduce an AI agent that provides contextual guidance through natural conversation, instead of relying only on traditional UI elements.
- Project Duration
- This project started in March 2024 and was completed in August 2024, based in Seattle.
- Operation Flow
- 1 Dual Interaction Modes
Combines VR controllers with a voice-driven AI agent for intuitive and natural interaction.
2 Personalized Onboarding
Users share background and goals with the AI to set up a tailored learning path.
3 Career Exploration & Guidance in VR
Recommends career paths and guides users through immersive scenarios with AI support.
4 VR Skill Training
Delivers hands-on training focused on practical, job-ready skills.
5 Progress Tracking & Feedback
Tracks progress and provides feedback to support growth and goal alignment. - Research
- Desk Research
We analyzed policies, investments, and employment data in manufacturing. While industry investment is growing, student employment is declining—revealing a key gap.
Primary Research
We interviewed 20+ students, career advisors, and industry professionals in Seattle, gaining insights from both education and hiring perspectives.
Key Insights
Education–Industry Gap
Curriculum and equipment lag behind industry needs.
Experience Preference
Companies favor experienced candidates due to high training costs.
Lack of Career Clarity
Students lack understanding of real work environments, leading to job instability. - Inspiration
- Our idea was inspired by our research, which revealed a significant gap between what students learn in school and the skills required in the real world. After brainstorming, we identified an opportunity in VR. Although the hype around VR has faded, its ability to simulate real-world environments in a cost-effective way still offers strong potential for improving education and training.
- Image Credits
- image:
Di Xia,
Xiaoshi Dai,
Feifan Gao
Press releases are available in 1 languages.