Training

This Ohio University's Outlook article reports Ohio University's School of Telecommunications and Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab have won a two-year, $702,000 grant to create interactive digital environments in 30 high-profile Columbus buildings or sites that could be most susceptible to terrorist attacks, hostage situations or other critical incidents. From the article: "The funding comes from the Urban Area Security Initiative Terrorism Early Warning Group, a unit of the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police.

This nebusiness.co.uk article reports Shaderware, an award-winning virtual reality business, plans to revolutionise the way medical students are taught about radiography through the development of a cutting-edge training aid named Virtual Radiography. From the article: "Shaderware has been set up by Teesside University lecturer Philip Cosson and graduate Neil Willis to improve the training of budding radiographers through software that mimics the X-ray process.

The software, named Virtual Radiography, allows students to put an on-screen patient into the position they require and test different angles and levels of radiation before taking a shot.

This trainingzone.co.uk article by Graeme Duncan, chief operating officer at Caspian Learning, argues that 3D games are a realistic and essential solution for corporate training programmes. From the article: "As organisations learn to cope with ever-changing product ranges, additions to health and safety policies, new financial regulations and legalisation compliance issues, they face the challenge of finding more effective ways to train their large and dispersed workforces.

This press release reports VirTra Systems has launched its new mobile live-fire small arms training simulation trailer product. From the press release: "The new live-fire simulation trailer, based on VirTra Systems' successful IVR® simulation technology, offers a full-featured judgmental-use-of-force scenario and three-lane marksmanship/target simulator allowing both laser-based and live-fire training, and is available in both law enforcement and military models for use with fully automatic small arms up to .50 caliber in size. The mobile live-fire trailer costs between $250,000 and $500,000 depending on how the customer accessorizes the product.

This press release reports VirTra Systems announced the receipt of a 24-system tender from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From the press release: "The 24-system small arms training simulator order included weapon training-conversion kits, and other accessories, bringing the total order to nearly one million dollars. Staggered delivery has been requested, with an initial ten-system order scheduled for immediate shipment.

The IVR® base simulators, marketed through VirTra Systems' partner Ti Training Corp under the trade name Training Lab™, have now generated total sales of 45 full-featured, single-screen small arms training simulators since just this past October.

Thos press release reports 33 MetaVR VRSG licenses were purchased to support the Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) Virtual Trainer Dome simulator at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and the portable JTAC Virtual Trainer Dome, which will be at the AFA 2007 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington D.C., from September 24 – 26. From the press release: "The Air Force’s Joint Air Ground Operations School at Nellis AFB is the primary training facility for the USAF JTACs.

This howstuffworks article takes a look at how the military uses virtual reality for most everything, from learning to fly a jet fighter to putting out a fire on board a ship. From the article: "From the earliest moments in the history of virtual reality (VR), the United States military forces have been a driving factor in developing and applying new VR technologies. Along with the entertainment industry, the military is responsible for the most dramatic evolutionary leaps in the VR field. In this article, we'll look at how the military uses virtual reality for most everything -- from learning to fly a jet fighter to putting out a fire on board a ship.

This ZDNet's Emerging Technology Trends Blog article reports German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD) have developed a virtual chainsaw for a tool manufacturer. From the article: "By using the concept of ‘mixed reality,’ which combines the real world and virtual reality, they’ve created a simulation tool to train workers to use dangerous tools with no risk to be harmed. As they said, ‘It looks like a chainsaw. It feels like a chainsaw. It sounds like a chainsaw. And yet it only saws virtually.’ The researchers added that the ‘Cybersaw’ is so intuitive that it can be used to train workers without the need to train them to use it. But read more…

This site gave a mention to the old prototype version of our simulator, so I thought you'd be interested in hearing about our new version.
Essentially our product uses immersive virtual reality to train beginner welders. The student puts on a welding mask, modified to include an eMagin Z800, uses a specially modified arc welding torch, and can 'see' a simulated piece of metal that he can practice welding on. The user sees and hears the welding as though he were using real equipment. The computer records the motions of the welding torch and draws it to several graphs, so the instructor can critique the student’s performance either live or after the fact.

Take a look at the Haptic Cow project: a virtual reality simulator developed to train veterinary students to palpate the bovine reproductive tract, to perform fertility examinations and to diagnose pregnancy. From the project website: "The simulator uses haptic (touch feedback) technology, which allows a user to interact with a 3D virtual environment through the sense of touch. When being trained with the Haptic Cow, the student palpates computer generated virtual objects resembling parts of the bovine reproductive tract. The teacher provides instruction and feedback while following the student's actions inside the cow on the computer monitor.