The virtues of virtual reality; Virtual reality is lowering the cost and increasing the efficiency of an ever-expanding variety of power plant tasks. By immersing themselves in computer-generated 3-D environments, technicians can safely practice maintenance procedures at one virtual plant while planners design the next one

With the help of high-tech 2-D goggles and advances in computer visualization, researchers now can simulate life inside a power plant. Termed virtual reality (VR), the technology enables someone to walk through a computer-generated - virtual - power plant and interact with it, performing maintenance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Power 2004-05, Vol.148 (4), p.59
Main Author: Wicker, Ken
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3-D graphics
Design
Energy industry
Engineering
Engineers
Laboratories
Nuclear power plants
Power plants
Software
Virtual reality
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Summary:With the help of high-tech 2-D goggles and advances in computer visualization, researchers now can simulate life inside a power plant. Termed virtual reality (VR), the technology enables someone to walk through a computer-generated - virtual - power plant and interact with it, performing maintenance tasks or deciding what to put where. In addition to the 3-D goggles, immersive VR systems typically include a motion-tracking system that tracks the user's position in the virtual world and a mouse-like navigation device for the user. Some systems also sport a gesture-recognizing glove to facilitate interaction with virtual objects within reach. Used together, these tools almost make users feel as if they're in a real power plant.
ISSN:0032-5929
1936-7791