VR glasses have great training potential

The energy sector can save time and costs by using virtual reality in security training. With Covid-19’s limitations on everyone’s travel activities, virtual training can quickly become widespread. A new innovation project will speed up the process.

Your next classroom or classroom may very well be a pair of glasses you turn on your head.

Virtual training in the energy sector has an innovative potential, and a group of project partners is currently in the process of releasing it in the innovation project Virtual Reality Safety Training.

Under the auspices of the cluster organization Energy Innovation Cluster, Virsabi, KRING Innovation and the University of Copenhagen (Department of Psychology) collaborate with Maersk Training to utilize a combination of virtual reality (VR) and physical education for safety training in the energy sector.

“We are working to develop a digital teaching platform that can create realistic teaching environments so close to the actual conditions that it provides real value,” says Christian Solmunde Michelsen, Head of Sales & Marketing at Maersk Training. The VR glasses must be used by Maersk Training when they have to train and develop skills in people in the energy sector, and who often have to go out to sea to work.

Increased commitment

According to Glenda Napier, CEO of the Energy Innovation Cluster, the safety of employees who are continuously certified through training and retraining is increased in this new way.

“Our innovation project is about giving the students a pair of VR glasses and conducting the safety training in a virtual environment. It will optimize both safety and access to education, which will also be an advantage in terms of climate, ”says Glenda Napier.

The virtual crew training will optimize a number of aspects of crew training.

“The starting point for the project was to investigate whether VR could be used as a learning platform to stimulate a desired behavior. It could make more training available to more people, and it would make training cheaper, ”says Christian Solmunde Michelsen.

Virtual training has a good effect, studies show – and it is more effective than the e-learning, which is otherwise often chosen as an alternative to the course rooms.

“Virtual training is more engaging for the participants”, says Jens Lauritsen, Chief Product Officer at Virsabi, who develops the software content in the glasses:

“Commitment is important for training empathy and the correct reactions”, says Jens Lauritsen.

Training after Covid 19

The project has twice carried out tests with training for a large group of naval officers. The response was positive:

“We had expected a lot of skepticism, but they were very excited”, says Christian Solmunde Michelsen.

The project has a significant savings potential. Today, expenses for travel, logistics, accommodation and lost working time make up half of the cost of training in the energy sector. VR can greatly reduce these costs in.

The global coronavirus pandemic has revealed yet another potential of the VR system:

“With the restrictions we currently have on travel activities as a result of Covid 19, the potential of the project has been given an additional dimension. Now it can also be used to train people when you are not allowed to travel or meet for a course “, he says.