Te podcast appears at part of a series entitled ITI LITES – Leaders in Industrial Technology, Education & Safety. LITES is intended to facilitate podcasts and events that produce “a collaborative ecosystem across industries for innovation and growth” and showcase leading adaptations of technology in construction and heavy industry. You can learn more and easily find this specific episode of the ITL LITES podcast at
www.lites.org/. Except where noted, the following attributed comments are found in that podcast. First off, with respect to the rationale for the launch of the NCCCO Foundation, Graham Brent explained that at the NCCCO “…we found ourselves diverging into other areas related to testing but not necessarily mainstream certification, not the sort of activities that you would necessarily expect a certification body would
forward.” And as the Foundation took shape, Mr. Brent decided that the timing was right for him to leave behind his duties (and a remarkable legacy!) with the NCCCO and head up the newly formed Foundation. As for the genesis of this particular study, we noted earlier that ITI was demonstrating their VR Crane Simulator at ConExpo in 2017. We visited the NCCCO Safety Zone at least once and stopped by ITI’s booth several times through the course of the 2017 show and there was always a sizable crowd highly engaged with the simulators on display, and the ITI VR set up was in nearly constant use. As for reaction to the ITI VR set at the NCCCO Safety
Zone, Graham Brent declared that they had “people in line almost constantly wanting to try this new technology… and so positive was the response, in fact, that we convened an ad hoc group at that meeting, at that event - to gauge not just the street reaction, but also to gauge the reaction from subject matter experts who had hundreds and possibly thousands of hours collectively of seat time.” He continues, “We actually ran a survey during the course of that event, and have it come back so positive… and again collecting the same information through the ad hoc group that we decided that this was worth exploring.” Together, the experts, the ad hoc group and the numerous attendees who tried out the VR simulator all had the same remarkably positive perception. But that wasn’t all. Brent adds that, “we had the benefit of the then senior director of ANSI personnel credentialing, Dr. Roy Swift, come by the booth and he was equally blown away. And the first words that he said to me when he took the Oculus Rift off was, you should do a study!”
ITI VR training simulator in use
“
...the physics engine, getting the physics absolutely right is important for… high-fidelity, high-stakes certification and… very complex machines like cranes, but then also the graphics really matter.”
be engaged in…”. Tis study and report on VR’s potential in certification are exactly the kind of activities he’s referring to. He continued by noting that it “…became clear that if …these activities were going to happen they were going to have to happen through a foundation and there was going to have to be a very intentional decision to move
34 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2020 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
WHAT MAKES VR WORK With respect to the tool itself, ITI’s Zack Parnell calls out two key factors. “VR is a fantastic technology, but the engineering behind it really matters; the physics engine, getting the physics absolutely right is important for… high-fidelity, high-stakes certification and… very complex machines like cranes, but then also the graphics really matter,” in order to obtain the depth of immersion they want to deliver. On that front, he credits Serious Labs, their technology
partner, with delivering the goods from a perhaps unexpected location: the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta. According to Parnell, the “University of Alberta actually has a world-leading game design school,” which provides an ideal recruiting source for the talent they need.
WHAT RESULT WOULD INDICATE SUCCESS? If you took any kind of test today, and took the exact same test tomorrow, would the result be the same? Would your score be identical? Consider it another way – if you took a high-stakes test today and passed it – be it a crane operator certification test, or a final exam in school, would you volunteer to throw out today’s result and take it again tomorrow for the same stakes?
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