Vortrag Simulation und Visualisierung '99

1

Distributed Virtual Training Applications
forEducation of Maintenance and Service
Personnel Axel Hintze, Marco Schumann, Stefan
Stuering Department for Planning and
Visualization Techniques Fraunhofer IFF Magdeburg
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Overview

• Why virtual training?
• What tasks can be trained?
• What architecture do we use?
• How does it look like? An Example application.

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Disadvantages of Traditional Training

• Maintenance and service training for complex
  machineryusing the real object implies
• High expenses due to loss of production at
  timesthe machinery is used for training purposes
• Immobility of the training object
• Possible damages of the training object
• Possible injury of trainee
• Inability to train emergency situations
• A new product line also requires new
  investmentfor training objects

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Why do we need Virtual Training?

• Increasing variety of products
• Increasing complexity of products
• Increasing cost for equipment
• Shortening of time interval for applying
  modifications
• Training center is bound to a certain location
• Experts are only locally available

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Didactic advantages of Virtual Training

• Ability to construct knowledge
• Learning through individual exploration
• Less restricted experimenting
• No prescribed training sequence

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Training Goals

• Learning the shape of single components
• Learning the geometrical hierarchy of components
  and assemblies
• Procedures for disassembling and re-assembling
• Procedure for setting-up and shutting-down the
  equipment
• Training of services procedures
• Detection, diagnosis, and removal of error
• Unterstanding mechanisms and functions of the
  training object

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Architecture

• There will be three components of the Virtual
  Training Environment
• The scenario concept formalized data
  structure for describing the real
  worlds objects
• The authoring system
• assists the author in developing the
  scenario
• The run-time system
• used by the trainee to interact within the
  scenario

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Scenario concept
increasing level of abstraction
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Authoring System
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Run-time system
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Different Training Modes
Presentation
Guided Tour
Free Training
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Distributed Training using HLA
Student(s)
Interface
HLA Run Time Infrastructure
information to be interchanged current values
of object properties
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An example scenario

• Six steps of replacing rolls in a mill stand
• Retract mill guides
• Move roll support onto roll drive journals
• Removal of frame part A
• Move roll carriage into receiving position
• Remove frame part F
• Retract roll support

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Step 1
What is it good for?

• Understand the hierarchical structure
• Learn about
• single parts
• subassemblies

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Step 2
What is it good for?

• Aquire info about
• Denomination
• Function
• Catalog Number
• Size and Shape

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Step 3
What is it good for?

• Choose viewpoints
• unreachable in reality
• zoom in/out
• repeat from different views

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Step 4
What is it good for?

• Understand procedures
• Taking into operation
• Shutting down
• Maintainance
• Safety Regulations

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Step 5
What is it good for?

• Interact with the scenario respecting or ignoring
  constraints
• Immerse
• Shutter glasses
• Tracker, HMD, ...

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Step 6
What is it good for?

• Get trained in the scenario
• learning by doing
• learn strategies for error detection

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Steps 1 - 6

• Retract mill guides
• Move roll support
• Remove frame part A
• Move roll carriage
• Remove frame part F
• Retract roll support

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Summary

• There are new approaches of training needed.
• Virtual Training Environments
• help to save costs
• allow for new learning approaches
• increase flexibility regarding product variety
• A flexible approach of modelling ensures
  effective creation of training scenarios.

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Any Questions?

• Point of contact
• Marco Schumann, Fraunhofer IFF
• E-mail schuma_at_iff.fhg.de
• Phone [phone]