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There is no spoon: applying virtual reality for maintenance training of rolling stock technicians

2018; Inderscience Publishers; Volume: 8; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1504/ijsse.2018.10015810

1748-068X

Andre Nouwens, R. Turkenburg, Roy Damgrave, Leo van Dongen, Alberto Martinetti, Kathleen Hart,

Human-Automation Interaction and Safety

Introducing into operations new rolling stocks requires re-educating technicians and operators for being able to properly work on new and different assets. The training sessions are often performed under substantial time constraints and with a lack of resources. Re-training the technicians is a cost intensive process as it is for training new employees. The aim of the paper is to test and evaluate a virtual reality (VR) training solutions to decrease costs and to increase technicians' availability, safety during maintenance operations and education performance with the support of Netherlands Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen - NS). Firstly, the study explores the possible maintenance tasks analysing the benefits for VR implementations; secondly, it evaluates the attitude of technicians trained with the proposed VR approach. Finally, it discusses the results and provides general applicable suggestions for the use of VR in other training activities.