The use of simulators in maritime education and training is an essential component for developing seafarer competencies. Emerging immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) have created new and differing possibilities for maritime simulations and simulators. The increasing advancements and technical readiness of these systems have paved the way for a new generation and category of simulators and simulation-based experiences for professional education, training, and operations, which are relatively cheaper, more immersive, compact, and accessible in comparison to traditional configurations. Although the concept of utilizing VR, AR, and MR head-mounted display technologies for professional training and operations is not new, their recent developments and proliferation now allow for practical implementation and real-world application. Particularly, the adoption and integration of these technologies into the education, training, and operations of maritime industries provide new possibilities and paradigms to support operators and operations both on land and at sea. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concepts of VR, AR, and MR applications specifically for maritime education, training and operations, including the potential benefits, drawbacks, and limitations of these systems.
Over the past decade, virtual reality (VR) has re-emerged as a popular technology trend. This is mainly due to the recent investments from technology companies that are improving VR systems while increasing consumer access and interest. Amongst many applications of VR, one area that is particularly promising is for pedagogy. The immersive, experiential learning offered by VR provides new training and learning opportunities driven by the latest versions of affordable, highly immersive and easy to use head mounted display (HMD) systems. VR has been tested as a tool for training across diverse settings with varying levels of success in the past. However, there is a lack of recent review studies that investigates the effectiveness, advantages, limitations, and feasibility of using VR HMDs in training. This review aims to investigate the extent to which VR applications are useful in training, specifically for professional skill and safety training contexts. In this paper, we present the results from a systematic review of the effectiveness of VR-based simulation training from the past 30 years. As a secondary aim, the methodological trends of application and practical challenges of implementing VR in training curriculum were also assessed. The results suggest that there is generally high acceptance amongst trainees for VR-based training regardless of the technology limitations, usability challenges and cybersickness. There is evidence that VR is useful for training cognitive skills, such as spatial memory, learning and remembering procedures and psychomotor skills. VR is also found to be a good alternative where on the job training is either impossible or unsafe to implement. However, many training effectiveness studies reviewed lack experimental robustness due to limited study participants and questionable assessment methods. These results map out the current known strengths and weaknesses of VR HMDs and provide insight into required future research areas as the new era of VR HMD’s evolve.
Maritime education and training (MET) has a long tradition of using simulator training to develop competent seafarers and relevant seafaring skills. In a safety critical domain like maritime industry, simulators provide opportunities to acquire technical, procedural and operational skills without the risks and expense associated with on-the-job training. In such training, computer-generated simulations and simulators with higher realism are inferred to better training outcomes. This realism, or the extent to which simulators replicate the experience of a real work environment, is referred to as the "fidelity" of a simulator. As the simulation technology develops, the maritime industry adapts to more advanced, higher fidelity simulators. However, the cost of a simulator generally increases with increasing fidelity, and thus practical and economic constraints must be considered. In this paper, we investigated two types of simulators on perceived skill development of the students at engine room simulation training. We compared the self-efficacy levels of 11 second year marine engineering students and their perceived skill development between two different fidelity engine room simulators. The result suggests that students have higher motivation and prefer to train with immersive training simulators compared to the traditional training. This article aims to add to existing knowledge on the influence of fidelity of simulators in training effectiveness in maritime education and training. http://www.transnav.eu the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation Volume 13 Number 3
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