NEWS
Total hazard
Immersive reality technology provides learning scenarios for disaster planning
A TRAINING company and a
multimedia organisation have
collaborated to produce an immersive
3D industrial simulator that
lets users learn how to handle
hazardous situations.
County Durham-based Third
Eye and Zodiac Training recently
launched the Blue Room, a realtime
interactive immersive reality
technology in which six interlinked
video screens cover 360º of view,
projecting video images on all
walls, floor and ceiling to encompass
users who do not need virtual
reality helmets or goggles.
The system can be made to
exact size specifications, potentially
holding up 500 participants. It
is controlled by sophisticated software
and high-end computers.
‘The hardware that drives it
allows you to immerse the occupant
in a scene that’s been
designed for them for training or
entertainment or for visualising
architectural designs,’ said Tim
Scott, Third Eye’s technical director.
‘As you move around the 3D
environment, the imagery moves
according to what you’d see, and
you can interact with it. If the screen
is designed to allow you free range,
you can move anywhere you want,
or you can be taken on a flythrough
of an environment.’
The Zodiac Blue Room team
believe it is novel. Although similar
training environments such as aircraft
simulators exist, they are
single function, have a narrow market
and are too big for an average
company to accommodate.
For the launch, Zodiac and Third
Eye developed a simple interaction
scenario set in a power station that
gives users a choice of how to react
in a turbine hall where there was fire
and escaping steam.
‘That’s a very real scenario that
allows people to be trained on
something they hopefully will never
experience,’ said Scott. ‘In the simulation,
we also take people down
into the hall to look round the turbine
but in reality, you’d be going
the other way. You can see cause
10
Disaster scenarios, as seen from a control room, can be replicated by Blue Room
and effect, interacting with the
module using a touch screen or
mouse and see the consequences
of the action. So from the control
room you can see back into the turbine
hall to see what’s happening,
which reinforces the training.’
Scott said the biggest challenge
was getting Blue Room to work
with real time rendering to make it
truly interactive. The team is also
working on a bigger Blue Rooms
with a smaller external footprint,
which is affected by the technology
available for closer projection.
Chris Green, development
director at Zodiac Training, said the
Blue Room could be updated so a
single company could simulate
multiple environments, or the hardware
could be sub-licensed to a
training company with multiple
clients: ‘Any industrial environment
can be created in precise detail,’ he
said. ‘As businesses change, the
Blue Room changes with them.’
The behind-the-scenes training
package was developed with an
Israeli company called Simigon.
‘That training package monitors
everything a participant does within
Blue Room — the choices they
make, their reaction times, whether
prompting was needed or any additional
help was required,’ said
Green. ‘Trainees are scored and
their details are stored so their
progress can be tracked over a
period of time. So it’s a great way
of monitoring how quickly a member
of staff is improving, and to help
put the right employee into a job.’
Zodiac Blue Room is working on
modules for companies operating
in hazardous industrial environments,
including oil and gas, and
nuclear. A military application will
be launched this year. It is also
developing a camera to capture a
live scenario in real time and display
it in the Blue Room. ‘This would
cover the whole spectrum, from
serious engineering project and
training on new plant to entertainment
and sport,’ said Green.
He said Blue Room is a timely
tool. ‘Companies are competing for
skilled engineers. Those with Blue
Room have the advantage as they
can train new and upskill existing
staff in a quick, realistic, cost-effective
way. As firms diversify into
areas like renewables, they can
retrain their engineers into the
new industry.’
Berenice Baker
the EnGIneeR 28 JULY–17 AUGUST 2008
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