Applications of virtual reality

VR is a technology that is increasingly being used within industry and services, across all phases of the product lifecycle. The SUTAVE laboratory enables developments and challenges in occupational safety and health to be addressed by means of innovative technology. This is feasible since VR has matured into a simulation tool to enable humans to interact with dynamic representations of real or imaginary worlds. VR has also grown into a methodology for applied research in human-machine system design and evaluation.

Within this context VR is used to apply principles of safety and usability in product design to human-machine interaction. VR is used in concept studies for new protective devices or for the upgrading of products during the product lifecycle. The results of risk assessments serve as the terms of reference for design; products are then analysed, assessed with reference to principles, if necessary redesigned, and finally evaluated. Products and their functionality are simulated and evaluated:

• even where they do not yet exist. This enables errors in development to be avoided (for example by the development of effective safety concepts for new machines or installations).
• when they are to be avoided, because they would constitute a hazard (as in the case of protective devices not or no more appropriate to safeguard machinery or equipment).
• when study of them would be too expensive (for example owing to the down times of machines and personnel when studies are performed in situ).
• when they no longer work in their original state because they have been damaged (for example in the context of accident investigations or fault analyses).
• when they cannot be studied empirically with systematic variation of standardized conditions, because the conditions are not repeatable (for example validation studies for product design).
• when testing is difficult, because their quality is subject to rapid change (for example under heavy wear or degradation).

Example application of VR:

• Safety and usability of innovations
  
  An actuator for elevating work platforms was equipped with an additional safety function. The effectiveness of the safety function in potential accident scenarios and the quality of human-machine interaction with this actuator in a number of work scenarios are being studied in VR. Only in VR is it possible for such studies to be performed both systematically and without workers being placed in danger. The study yields initial findings on the effectiveness of the innovation, and possibly further suggestions for improvements to the product which can provide stronger arguments in the future for it to be fitted to elevating work platforms.
  
• Safety concepts for new workplaces
  
  Hitherto unknown risks and hazards in human-robot interaction must be avoided at new workplaces involving collaborative robots. VR can be used to create and extend safety concepts successively for specific workplaces (for example involving guards or electro-sensitive protective equipment). In VR, each stage of system design development can be studied without the need for it to be physically built, and tested for its effectiveness in preventing accidents and improving product safety. VR provides a framework for the development of suitable safety concepts in work system design.