Virtual Electric Circuits VECs
What Is It?
Virtual Electric Circuits (VECS) is a standalone Meta Quest application from Lobaki, Inc that turns VR into a fully functional electronics laboratory. Students build real circuits by connecting physical components — batteries, resistors, capacitors, lightbulbs, switches, motors — in three-dimensional virtual space, then measure their behaviour with a virtual multimeter and observe the results in real time.
What distinguishes VECS from simpler circuit drawing tools is its simulation engine. The app is powered by Ngspice — the open-source implementation of SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), a circuit simulation framework developed at the University of California, Berkeley that has been the industry standard in professional electrical engineering for decades. The physics under the hood is the same mathematics used by electrical engineers designing real circuits at companies around the world.
The app includes over a dozen structured lessons covering the fundamentals of electricity and mechatronics, alongside a completely open-ended construction mode where students can build any circuit they can imagine — and crucially, can push their circuits to failure, watching virtual "explosions" that would be dangerous or expensive in a real lab, but are instructive and safe in VR.
Why Ngspice Matters
SPICE — Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis — is one of the most important software tools in electrical engineering. Originally developed at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1970s, it has become the universal standard for simulating analogue and digital circuits before they are built. Every serious electronics engineer uses some flavour of SPICE; commercial versions include LTspice, PSpice, and Cadence Spectre. Ngspice is the open-source version.
By building VECS on Ngspice, Lobaki Inc have made a significant architectural choice: the circuit physics in VECS is not approximated or simplified. The app numerically solves the actual differential equations governing circuit behaviour — modelling time-varying currents and voltages, noise, capacitor charging curves, motor behaviour, and small-signal performance. When a student measures voltage across a resistor in VECS, they are getting the correct answer according to real circuit physics, not an educational approximation.
This matters for longevity. A student who uses VECS in school and then progresses to A-level Electronics, an engineering degree, or a technical apprenticeship will encounter the same SPICE framework — in a different interface, but solving the same equations. VECS doesn't teach simplified physics that has to be unlearned later; it teaches the real thing.
What Students Build & Learn
VECS operates in two modes that together span guided curriculum content and open exploration.
Structured lessons walk students through the foundations of electricity — from basic series and parallel circuits through to mechatronic applications involving motors and active components. Each lesson guides students to build, measure, and analyse a circuit, with questions to develop understanding.
After lessons, students can build any circuit they can imagine using the available component library. Circuits can be pushed to failure safely — overloading a component produces a visual "explosion" that would be dangerous in a real lab, but here teaches the student about component ratings and failure modes.
Electricity Meets Engineering
VECS explicitly covers mechatronics — the integration of electrical, mechanical, and software systems that underpins modern engineering from robots to cars to medical devices. By including motors as interactive components alongside passive electronic elements, the app creates a bridge between GCSE and A-level Physics (electricity) and Design & Technology / Engineering courses that students often encounter separately.
Lobaki, Inc also produce Virtual Mechatronics Lab — a companion application on the Meta Quest store that extends this content further into mechanical and systems engineering. Teachers running combined Physics and D&T programmes, or vocational engineering courses, may find both apps useful together.
5.0 Stars — & Constructive Suggestions
VECS holds a 5.0/5 rating from 3 verified Meta Quest reviews, with a detailed critique from reviewer Dojomi that praises the core concept and raises specific development requests. This is one of the most informative single-reviewer responses in this physics series — worth reading carefully because it simultaneously validates the app's core value and maps the gaps clearly.
What to Be Aware Of
XR School Scores
VECS is the most technically rigorous circuit simulation available on the Meta Quest platform — powered by Ngspice, the same SPICE-based physics engine used in professional electrical engineering worldwide. Students measuring voltage across a resistor in VECS are getting the correct answer, not an educational approximation. The app includes 12+ guided lessons, a full component library including motors, a virtual multimeter, and the ability to safely destroy virtual components to learn about failure modes — all on standalone Quest without a PC. There is a known SPDT switch bug to verify in the current version, and the open-ended lesson format means teachers need to supply the theoretical wrapper. But the core concept is validated by its reviewer, the simulation physics is excellent, and the mechatronics scope makes it genuinely cross-curricular for Physics and D&T teachers alike. An impressive and practical tool for any school teaching electricity and circuits.
SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) is the universal standard for simulating electrical circuits, originally from UC Berkeley. Ngspice is the open-source version. Every major commercial EDA tool (LTspice, PSpice, Cadence) is based on the same mathematics. VECS uses the real physics — not a simplified educational model.
Virtual Mechatronics Lab is a companion app from Lobaki, Inc on the Meta Quest store — extending the electronics content into broader mechanical and systems engineering. Teachers running Engineering courses may find both apps complementary.
Virtual Mechatronics Lab →