Virtual reality simulators create new possibilities for maritime training

Modern VR headsets also are more comfortable to wear for extended periods, and they can display hand movements and other actions in realistic ways.
Virtual reality offers participants a chance to immerse themselves in the training without the need for a full-sized simulator.
Virtual reality offers participants a chance to immerse themselves in the training without the need for a full-sized simulator.

Although it’s been in the public consciousness for well over a decade, virtual reality (VR) has only recently gained a foothold in maritime simulation. VR both complements existing simulators while also expanding the training environment, offering the potential to immerse trainees to more scenarios than traditional full mission bridge simulators.

Modern VR headsets also are more comfortable to wear for extended periods, and they can display hand movements and other actions in realistic ways.
Modern VR headsets also are more comfortable to wear for extended periods, and they can display hand movements and other actions in realistic ways.

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) just completed construction of eight VR bridges, incorporated into traditional simulators with controls and hardware, that will train mariners for numerous ship-handling projects. Trainees will be able to virtually move outside the bridge and can potentially be connected to one another during a simulation.

Though VR “headsets” have been around for some time, it’s difficult to predict what role this technology — or any new technology — will play in the future of maritime training. VR hardware is expensive, but the potential for long-term savings is promising. One industry expert said that as it becomes more affordable, VR may one day replace the full mission simulator. 

“In the past 30 years, simulators have helped improve the training of mariners 100-fold,” said Michael Sobkow, the simulator operator and senior deck training officer for SUNY Maritime College. IMO STCW code requires training time in simulators for a variety of shipboard tasks.

To support the U.S. Merchant Marine fleet, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) program began simulator training in a hotel in Baltimore almost 50 years ago. “A lot of maritime simulation started with nighttime training — there were lights on wires that moved around. You sail[ed] the vessel on the bridge of ships, interacting with lights on pulley wires. It was state of the art at the time,” said Catherine Gianelloni, the director of academics at MITAGS-East. “Then we moved onto projection. Today, there are large ship simulators with 360-degree projectors. But we lacked the ability to walk out to the bridge wing, and captains and pilots are usually looking out from the bridge wings and getting tug commands from there.” 

MITAGS-East has just completed construction of a series of eight connected VR bridges. Funded by a grant from the Maryland Energy Administration, these bridges will be used to support offshore wind training and other ship-handling projects, a MITAGS spokesperson said, adding that the new VR bridges will combine physical bridge display screens and throttle/steering controls with a tethered VR headset. 

“The maneuvering position was not well represented” in traditional simulators, Gianelloni said. With VR, however, “you can look down and not just see the floor but have a 360-degree view from a conning position,” she added. Through VR, trainees can now virtually “look” over the side and see the ship coming alongside the pier. “With VR, you can walk from one bridge wing to next — or from bow to stern — and communicate what you are seeing,” Gianelloni said.

“We can expose mariners to as many scenarios as possible with VR. We consider [it] an enhancement,” she added. 

The move toward VR simulation is not necessarily an all-or-nothing proposition. VR can complement existing facilities or be used as a stand-alone solution, according to Wärtsilä, a leading simulator manufacturer that supplies VR headsets to MITAGS. Gianelloni said MITAGS’ recent upgrade incorporates both virtual reality and augmented reality (AR), where some of a ship’s physical hardware, such as radar and electronic charting displays, are used by trainees. “We like the option for AR, while getting the benefits of VR,” Gianelloni added. Wärtsilä said combining VR with traditional simulators offers a “mix of visual and tactile accuracy,” where trainees are still able to work the physical controls. 

MITAGS can tailor its simulations to create models of specific missions, such as LNG carriers, containerships or cruise ships as well as to support the development of a broad curriculum for offshore wind farm developers, including newly installed waterjet controls on crew transfer vessels (CTVs).

Until recently, any move toward VR has been technology- and cost-prohibitive for many maritime training centers. “The tech has come a long way,” said Gianelloni, adding that VR has been discussed for at least 10 years. “The original goggles had limitations of time — if you can’t wear them all day, you can’t train all day.” 

Some early model VR headsets caused eye fatigue and in some cases nausea after extended use for training purposes, according to MITAGS, which described the newer headsets as more user-friendly.

Traditional simulators are not without their own high costs and limitations. “A full mission simulator is a quarter- to half-a-million dollars of equipment, requires large spaces, but can only take a small number of trainees at a given time,” said Sobkow of SUNY Maritime. “A traditional full mission simulator typically has four individuals per bridge unit during a training session. The more cadets you have in a simulator, the less they learn,” Sobkow said, adding that VR headsets, by comparison, are much more scaled down. “You can use them in a regular classroom,” and there is the “potential to connect engineers to navigation to deck officers with interlinked headsets.”

Will VR hardware become more affordable as it enters broader use in maritime simulation? 

“I would hope so,” Sobkow said. “I believe it will get a hold, and eventually replace the full mission simulator.”  

A return on investment analysis by a VR training company found that initial VR training was slightly more expensive than traditional models, “but when the costs were ‘extrapolated’ over a three-year period in which the training was repeated and reused, the VR training became significantly more economical.”

While the advantages of VR seem promising, it’s difficult to predict where it might land in the training paradigm. “The U.S. Navy conducted some research in VR ship-handling training about 10 years ago that I was privileged to evaluate for them,” said Samuel Pecota, a professor at California State University Maritime Academy’s simulation center. “It was pretty slick, but I don’t know what ever became of it — if anything.” 

Could Gianelloni, who attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and served as a third mate, have benefitted from VR when she was a cadet? “I got less than 40 hours in the simulator at Kings Point. VR would have provided me a low-cost opportunity to be exposed to more training scenarios,” she said. 

Gianelloni looks at VR as another tool in the training toolbox. “Hopefully, your tools are telling the same story. We don’t want to think [VR] can do more than it can. We also don’t want to think that it’s limited where it’s not.
Either way, it’s going to change the way training is done.”