EDUSAFE

Education in advanced VR/AR Safety Systems for Maintenance in Extreme Environments

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The Edusafe project is a 4-year ITN with 10 ESR and 2 ER researchers, which focuses on research into the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) during planned and emergency maintenance in extreme environments (nuclear installations, space, deep sea etc). The scientific objective of this project is research into advanced VR and AR technologies for a personnel safety system platform, including features, methods and tools. Current technology is not acceptable because of significant time-lag in communication and data-transmission, missing multi-input interfaces, and simultaneous supervision of multiple workers who are working in the extreme environment. The aim is to technically advance and combine several technologies and integrate them as integral part of a personnel safety system to improve safety, maintain availability, reduce errors and decrease the time needed for scheduled or sudden interventions. The research challenges lie in the development of real-time (time-lags less than human interaction speed) data-transmission, instantaneous analysis of data coming from different inputs (vision, sound, touch, buttons), interaction with multiple on-site users, complex interfaces, portability and wearability, wear/tear. The result will be an integrated wearable VR/AR system (control system) which can be implemented and tested as a prototype. The LHC at CERN and its existing Personnel Safety System, requirements and protocols will be used as a test and demonstration platform. The project will deliver a comprehensive local and network-wide training programme incl. several secondments for each fellow, combined with dissemination and outreach activities. The Fellows will gain valuable scientific skills and highly valued soft skills from expert and experienced organisations, which will be beneficial for their career development in academia or industry. All fellows will be offered PhD places. The project comprises 9 partners of which 3 from industry (2 SMEs).'

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Existing technology for performing maintenance in environments such as outer space or the ocean depths has several limitations. These include substantial time delays in communication and transmission of data, multi-input interfaces that are unaccounted for, and the management of several operators at once in such environments.

With EU funding, the EDUSAFE (Education in advanced VR/AR safety systems for maintenance in extreme environments) project is researching the characteristics, procedures and tools of cutting-edge VR and AR technologies for the development of a personnel safety system. Overall, the aim is to enhance safety, maintain readiness, minimise errors, and reduce the time needed for scheduled or unexpected actions.

Project members have begun the development of an integrated prototype VR/AR system and its associated controls. This includes real-time data transmission, on-the-spot analysis of vision, sound and touch data, interaction with several onsite users and multifaceted interfaces. It also includes portability and wearability. The system will be tested at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.

Several dissemination and outreach activities are underway, as well as a programme that offers a vast and diverse set of training opportunities for researchers. Secondments have commenced following the recruitment of 10 doctoral fellows and 2 postdocs.

By combining several technologies in developing a prototype, EDUSAFE will lead to the creation of a novel system with VR and AR capabilities for operation in hazardous areas. It is set to become the first personnel safety technology to combine reliability, flexibility, portability and speed features all together in one system.