Application Studies of Virtual Reality to Training for Plant Operation and Maintenance

This paper describes present status of virtual reality (VR) application studies to training environment for engineering plant operation and maintenance work. First, problems of VR application to training are described, and required elemental technologies for both operation and maintenance training are discussed based on characteristics of actual plant training and general framework of VR-applied training system. Then, methodologies and related technologies for constructing VR training system are reviewed from the viewpoint of characteristics of operation/maintenance training, followed by introduction of some developed training systems both for plant operation and maintenance work. Finally, the present status and future prospects of VR-applied training system are discussed.