Nippon Paint has developed “nax VRP-X,” a VR training tool for automotive repair painting, and plans to begin accepting orders at the end of October 2026. The tool quantifies the sensory expertise of skilled technicians and supports basic skills acquisition by inexperienced workers and the transfer of skills.
The automotive repair industry is expected to face a labour shortage of approximately 28,000 workers by 2029, making it challenging to secure practice opportunities at painting sites and reduce the training burden. To address these issues, Nippon Paint developed “nax VRP-X,” a VR training tool that allows users to repeatedly practise tasks in a virtual reality environment and visualises their movements and results.
One of the main features of nax VRP-X is that users can repeatedly practise basic movements with a VR device and controllers without requiring actual paint or a spray booth. Beginners can experience “painting,” “observing” and “judging” using exercises such as painting the reverse side and edges of parts.
The tool also scores data including spray-gun distance, angle, speed and overlap width, allowing users to check the condition of the coating, including film thickness, hiding power, runs and unevenness, in the VR environment. By replacing conventional, intuition-based instruction with numerical and visual information and showing areas for improvement, the tool supports learners in reviewing their own performance.
Finally, the tool supports the transfer of skills by digitising and reproducing the painting movements and know-how of skilled technicians for instruction. Orders are scheduled to begin at the end of October 2026, with repair shops, distributors and educational institutions among the intended users.