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“The Impact and ROI of VR/AR in Training”
Expert Panel Moderated by Raj Puran, Intel
Jan 16, 2019
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Co-Authors:
Carlos J. Ochoa carlos.ochoa@onedigitalconsulting.eu
Jeff Meador jeff@portico.ai
Shai Newman newmans@compedia.net (Skill Real)
Marlo Brooke mbrooke@avatarpartners.com
Examples featured in this publication include:
INNVESTION is a VR/AR Platform for Industry Base Training Simulation by ONE Digital
Electrical Safety Certification In Virtual Reality by SkillReal
Hotel Customer Service Training by Portico
Augmented Reality Maintenance Aid (ARMA) by AVATAR Partners
Introduction
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein
New technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing people's jobs and lives. Technology will likely change many of the existing jobs, requiring workers and companies to adjust. While maybe only one in seven jobs may be lost to automation, many others will change significantly. OECD suggests in their study (2018), that around 14% of all jobs across 32 countries analyzed have a high risk of automation, 32% of existing jobs may experiment significant changes to how they are carried out.
In the other hand, and according the OECD study, It is now essential to ensure that schools prepare students for a world in which they will constantly be adjusting to new technologies, new business models, and new ways of working. People, including young people, need to be equipped with the type of skills that will allow on average 25 job changes throughout their lives.
Therefore, learning systems will need to adapt to the changes brought about by automation and teach students that allow them to take full advantage of the current wave of technology adoption. This includes skills such as cognitive and social intelligence but also extends to the skills needed to work effectively in a digital context, both as specialists and users of digital technologies.
INNVESTION is a VR/AR Platform for Industry Base Training Simulation.
Carlos J. Ochoa (ONE Digital Consulting) carlos.ochoa@onedigitalconsulting.eu
The Problem
New technologies are an emerging industry creating employment opportunities and entrepreneurial possibilities. According to projections set out by the European Commission, market demands for qualified information and communications technology (ICT) specialists will not be met, seeing a shortfall of up to 500,000 ICT professionals in 2020. Virtual and augmented reality solutions are amongst those with some of the highest market demand in the ICT sector.
Skills, and skills development, are an essential component of all efforts in this challenging society. Too many workers are simply unprepared to meet the needs of firms, particularly in more competitive economic environments.
New skills development for more complex jobs. Technicians need to be proficient and continue to change rapidly as tasks become more complex. Find the right info at the right moment. Technicians need fast access to all info to take fast and complex decisions.
High Training cost. Time, resources, maintaining and quality standards.
High Digitalization cost (paper, no automatization processes, decisión taking.
Data integration and maintenance. Manuals, documents, files…
Data visualization. Format, devices, availability, usability
Risk and performance. New complex and unpredictable situations. Actions based training methodology.
Quality, standards and sustainability
Expensive or difficult hand on practice (no experimental, no real world scenarios…)
Difficult assessment process.
Most of existing solutions are isolated, expensive and not VRAR designed. Also have a gap about learning processes, methodology and instructional approach.
Industry 4.0 Demands
Industry 4.0 is the of automation information and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
Enhanced productivity through optimization and automation
Provide real-time data and information for real-time decision makers
Business continuity through advanced maintenance and monitoring possibilities
Higher quality products as a result of real-time monitoring and technology convergence
Better working conditions and superior sustainability
The Solution
Engineers with the right skills, with excellent experience and experimental training, are the demands in the industry worldwide has become acute.
The need for efficient and effective workforce training and operation in the industry worldwide has become acute. VR/AR technology is the most efficient and fastest way to educate new employees and prepare them for their daily work. In the other hand, thanks to VR/AR and digital information, technicians can focus in operation & maintenance task enables them to cut down on time spent on administrative tasks, significantly increasing productivity.
VR/AR and Simulation-based training also helps increase professionals confidence because they can practice procedures until they master them. Further, trainees become more aware of safety procedures because they have to follow them in the simulations.
Reducing Training cost. Experiential training based on VRAR give real-time feedback and improve the efficiency of skills transfer, increased knowledge retention.
Reducing delays & mistakes. Using collaborative VR/AR and digital documentation, we can integrate “all in one”. Minimizing time to action in decisión taking providing technicians the complete background on an asset, detailing all historical data and repairs to quickly perform the task in hand.
Improving Safety. Dangerous or difficult to replicate scenarios can be safely simulated with VRAR. This allows monitors to repeatedly practice critical or unpredictable scenarios while preventing damage to equipment and persons.
Improving quality, and standards. Experiential Training through VRAR actively participation in the activities obtaining higher retention rates. VRAR training allows employees to receive hands on training, in a virtual environment. This prevents expensive down time and disruptions in normal operations
Improving assessment process. Monitors can create specific complex situations to be resolved, where Technicians will deal with different task according their role or responsibility. They will be evaluated based on their performance on the relevant work items. This information can be integrated with the company’s internal record keeping systems for certification and/or administrative action.
Improving preventive maintenance. Integrating applications such as electronic job sheets and work orders, on-site workers are now able to focus on the task in hand while using VRAR with tablets or smartphones. This enables them to cut down on time spent at the end of each day on administrative tasks, significantly increasing productive-time.
Faster and better decisions. Decision-making processes are shortened and problems, as well as defects, can be resolved quickly and efficiently
Imagine a solution, that deploy an intelligent VR/AR ecosystem with the specialized know-how to turn unstructured data into value-adding information, e.g. when providing services such as preventive maintenance, security management or operational management.
INNVESTION is an innovative platform for training, operation and maintenance of plant services, which includes advanced reality technologies in immersive environments (extened reality, 360º video), methodologies in a modular architecture (on/off line).
A cloud platform will allow users to download the different modules. For a full INNVESTION experience, the user only needs a mobile device and VR glasses that fit the device. The training centre will need an internet connection to download modules, and these can be accessed offline, only needing a connection to update new content.
INNVESTION can be used from a single “low cost” VR device based on Samsung Gear Mobile VR, through the most advanced VR Oculus Rift, HTC Vive configuration.
The Results
Simulation-based training, prefaced with traditional training methods on process fundamentals, is the most efficient and fastest way to train new employees and prepare them for their daily work providing huge added value and benefits:
Faster project execution, commissioning and ”time to market“ through improved collaboration
Cost savings through consistent plant information available at all times
Higher plant availability, integrating real time data and 3d visualization
Safe and efficient plant operations
Electrical Safety Certification In Virtual Reality (by SkillReal)
The Problem
Creating a lasting impact on people’s behavior:
A fortune 100 company has asked SkillReal to provide a Virtual Reality experience to certify and drive thousands of employees around the world to safe conduct in a critical electrical work.
The Solution
The solution was built on the foundation of the SkillReal Virtual Reality for Training platform. It’s major components are:
Four detailed scenarios: Introduction to the Virtual Reality environment; Standard Electrical Safety procedure scenario; Advanced “what-if” scenario; Infrared scanning scenario.
Effective user feedback: real-time feedback to trainees during the mission, and detailed personalized feedback with key critical error highlighting at the end of each scenario.
Integration: with client pre-test and post-test activities – to analyze and measure the impact of the practice scenarios.
Valuable Analytics: Detailed user performance tracking and analytics, recording all user actions, time taken to perform task and mission, interactions with objects and more.
The Results
Together with the client, we were able to create an unparalleled authentic user experience in Virtual Reality, with a strong sense of realism – changing a standard regulatory training requirement into a game-changing and powerful practice.
Based on SkillReal’s powerful Virtual Reality platform, the project was delivered in a very quick turn-around, with two first content packages being released with just 10 weeks, and two more released 10 weeks later.
The project leveraged SkillReal’s multi-disciplinary capabilities of Instructional Design, UX and UI in Virtual Reality expertise, a world-class 3D studio, and a creative and dedicated team of developers, QA and project management people.
“It’s super exciting work. Breaking new ground is never easy and it’s great to be partnering with you. I have endless respect for your team’s attention to detail and dedication to quality.” Senior client expert on the project
Image from SkillReal’s Electrical Safety Certification in Virtual Reality
Hotel Customer Service Training (Portico)
The Challenge
A major hotel brand didn’t have the bandwidth to provide consistent training for new employees in many customer-focused areas. They wanted to ensure that new employees interacted with guests in way that not only followed correct procedure but also adhered to brand standards. They wanted to provide more interactivity and practice than a mere shadowing experience for new hires, but could not rely on having trainers or senior staff available.
The Solution
Portico recreated select hotel experiences inside Virtual Reality. Learners spoke directly to digital avatars of hotel guests in order to practice and master their conversational skills. These virtual guests were powered by Portico’s TrueTalk AI, allowing them to respond with natural conversation, creating a truly immersive and realistic experience that was immediately transferrable to the workplace. Furthermore, a Virtual Trainer (also powered by AI) listened in on the conversation, providing immediate feedback if the learner deviated from established procedures or brand messaging.
The Result
The training was considered a success by both the hotel and its employees. Employees were able to practice their skills without the need for any supervision. The hotel noticed a decrease in training time along with an increase of confidence for new hires. As a result, new hires were able to enter the shift rotation faster and did so with fewer hiccups along the way.
One other added benefit was the general level of excitement from the new hires. They exhibited a genuine enthusiasm towards trying the training; the training itself became a fun “water cooler” topic for people to discuss. Some of the existing staff insisted on trying it to see what they were missing out on!
The full results can be seen here:
Augmented Reality Maintenance Aid (ARMA) by AVATAR Partners
Marlo Brooke, President and CEO, Avatar Partners (mbrooke@avatarpartners.com)
The Challenge
Aircraft Readiness is a number one priority for both military and commercial aviation. Maintenance task troubleshooting and execution time and error rates are significant aircraft readiness degraders.
An additional stressor occurs when an organization must extend the life of its equipment; in some cases, 10-20 years beyond an aircraft’s expected life. This puts unanticipated strain on systems and structures, resulting in excessive down time for repairs. In some cases, 40%-50% of the inventory of a platform are unusable at any point in time.
Maintenance errors are a leading cause of inventory down time. For example, a mistake made on a fuel cell replacement can result in an aircraft being down for 6 months or longer, driving enormous cost, and risk to global safety. Even the best training tools can reduce errors down to 75%, but today’s economic and global situation require something better. Aerospace needs a training solution that can be used on the job, and produce zero errors.
AVATAR Partners was approached by a community of maintainers to address a common issue in one fixed wing aircraft, which was a Wiring issue (specifically, the Left Main Landing Gear Planing Link Proximity Switch Fail).
The problem was complex:
• The task required 3 non-integrated sources (IETM, Wire Illuminator, Schematic)
• Tasks to gain access to test points was not identified
• Wire Illuminator visuals did not include installed components
• Poor wire illuminator visuals cause confusion in wiring orientation
• Visuals did not show necessary connection points
• Time intensive testing and strict time constraints
The Solution
To address the issue, AVATAR Partners used a standard Criticality, Difficulty, Frequency (CDF) analysis model to identify the optimal training solution; clearly, an advanced solution that would allow the maintainer to get assistance without leaving the job itself, was critical.
AVATAR researched all training technologies available, and designed a Mixed Reality solution, which combines both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. At the time, most Augmented Reality solutions relied on the use of markers or codes to identify the object. AVATAR joined the Vuforia VIP program and developed the Augmented Reality Maintenance Aid (ARMA), and worked with the vendor to develop an advanced object tracking system that would lock on target based on the shape of the object itself (using CAD data). Furthermore, most AR solutions had the issue of drift or jitter when dealing with a large object, such as an aircraft. The maintainer must be able to walk around the aircraft without any shift or jitter; if not, the maintainer loses all confidence in the solution. AVATAR Partners was able to eliminate shift and jitter entirely, regardless of the object size.
The Result
ARMA is a Mixed Reality industrial-grade training and job performance aid, useable under unpredictable environmental conditions. The results are as follows:
ARMA Reduces Time to Troubleshoot by 75%
With lock-on Object Tracking and elimination of drift/jitter, ARMA gains 100% confidence of the maintainer
Because ARMA is configurable, it can be designed to support any aircraft platform type
ARMA is scalable, allowing the maintainer to train in any environment, with or without the aircraft, or with a scaled down model, through the use of object tracking
ARMA is “Two for the price of One” - can be used in both training and on the job
ARMA is a hardware-agnostic and integrates with flight-ready glasses today
Increases the number of Ready Aircraft
Modular, extensible, integrates with any backend system, and allows multi-user collaboration
ARMA offers remote assistance which allows remote Subject Matter Experts to view, guide and record users remotely through steps and processes.
The AVATAR Team has developed other MR solutions that reduce cost and errors throughout the manufacturing process. Another example is the assembly of large, complex ships, where our team developed a Mixed Reality solution that Quality Assurance Time on Task by 90% while Eliminating Errors to Zero. Our ever-present objective, Simplifying Complex Systems™, is a success story that keeps growing.
