Serious VR

Virtual reality has long been used for more than just playing games. While a few years ago it was primarily an entertainment device, today it is possible to follow complete VR training sessions. This is particularly useful for training that is quite time-consuming and costly in real life.

The company from Twente Serious VR develops these VR training sessions. They specialise in creating serious VR games; games designed for training/practice rather than purely for entertainment purposes. A virtual training session has several advantages over a physical training session. Some of the benefits of VR training include:

• Less physical space is required compared to real training. For a VR training session, you only need a VR headset and possibly a computer and monitor.
• Hardware used can all be replicated in the virtual world (think of a button someone needs to press or a lever they need to pull).
• A VR training session can be completed faster than a physical training session. There is no need to prepare the space or the user. You put on the VR headset and get started.
• The participant trains in a different way than they are used to. As a result, the "new" information they receive is better retained.
  It is a more efficient way of training. When you have multiple participants, it is easy to switch between users.
   

In short, a VR training session has many advantages over a real training session. However, it is important to mention that a VR training session is not a replacement for a real training session. It is always a supplement, although there are currently many training sessions in development that could replace a real training session. A good example of this is training to fly an aeroplane, such as with the mixed reality training from Varjo.

As a novice pilot, there are many reasons why you wouldn't want to step directly into a flying aeroplane. When you perform your first training session in virtual reality with a VR headset, you at least become familiar with the cockpit and all the buttons. This is the first step of the piloten-training. Once the user is familiar with the virtual cockpit, they can then step into the real cockpit.

Operational training on machines can begin long before a machine is put into production, simply by training in Virtual Reality. This is especially useful when industrial companies open new production locations abroad. Maximising production capacity and minimising failure costs is another incentive to train operators in virtual reality. They are ready to work effectively on machines before they start working with real machines. This method of training allows training processes to be standardised based on the best cases of your operators worldwide. Training costs are drastically reduced.

Incidents often occur within production processes. Diagnosing and restoring the production process can be a daunting task. By capturing the expertise and best cases of senior operators, a leerling-mastertrainingssysteem can be set up to train on the most common operational incidents. This type of training results in a significantly shorter path to mastery and a major step forward in machine-uptime and maximising production capacity.

Machine manufacturers often face problems with service and maintenance worldwide. Service engineers have to travel long distances while local service engineers are available. These on-site engineers, however, do not have the necessary expertise to carry out maintenance work. By using Virtual Reality-training, local maintenance teams can be trained and deployed for specific onderhouds- and service tasks without the need for an expert service engineer. During training in Virtual Reality, the risk of damaging expensive tools and objects on-site is minimised. This makes maintenance training in Virtual Reality a cost-effective and efficient solution.

Apollo Tyres is a multinational with offices and production locations in countries around the world, such as India, Zuid-Afrika, and the Netherlands. One of their KPIs in productie-optimalisatie is designing best cases for production processes and implementing them at all locations worldwide. Serious VR has helped Apollo Vredestein develop a VR-training for a mould change machine. With this VR-training, operators are trained more efficiently in practising complex operations before working on the real machine. This way, operators can change moulds faster and spend less training time in the factory, resulting in less machine downtime for all factories.

Click here to read more about Apollo Vredestein's training.

Diversey is a supplier of schoonmaak- and hygiene products, serving customers in a wide range of sectors. It integrates chemicals, floor maintenance machines, tools, and equipment with a wide range of technology-based value-added services, food safety services, and water- and energy management. Diversey operates globally and has 11,000 employees.

For one of Diversey's filling lines, Serious VR has researched and developed a VR-training where bottles need to be filled, checked, and labelled. One mistake can have huge negative effects on the customer's cleaning process, leading to high costs, which Diversey wants to avoid. Therefore, this virtual training approach has been developed and implemented.

Click here to read more about Diversey's training.