3D video to show the quality of service of Marine Elevators in the marine environment.
The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions (RIPA) are a set of essential rules designed to prevent collisions at sea, ensuring the safety of navigation.
From right-of-way patterns to identifying lights and signals, the RIPA is crucial for any sailor, especially those aspiring to obtain qualifications such as Recreational Craft Skipper (PER), Yacht Skipper or Yacht Captain.
In this context, virtual reality (VR) emerges as a revolutionary tool for nautical training, allowing students to experience critical safety situations on board without being physically in the water.
The SEA STARLIGHT Sailing Association commissioned Pixeldreams to create a VR training project that would make it possible to board a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, feel the rolling of the waves and face the challenges of passing preferences, all from the comfort of a virtual simulator. Users can even take a multiple choice test after each scene, and check their learning progress.
Below we show this interesting project applied to teaching RIPA and other key navigation regulations and explore the five most important benefits that this type of virtual training can offer to future sailors.
1. Immersive Practical Experience
One of the biggest challenges of traditional nautical training is providing students with enough time on the water so that they can internalize safety rules, such as those set out in the RIPA. With virtual reality, students can practice as many times as necessary, simulating different real-life scenarios where knowledge of passage preferences is crucial. For example, a student may be faced with situations where they must make quick decisions to avoid collisions, improving their ability to react and understand the rules in a controlled environment. This immersive experience allows for repeated practice without the physical risk associated with being on the high seas.
2. Safety in a Controlled Environment
One of the main attractions of virtual reality in nautical training is that students can experience risky situations without exposing themselves to real dangers. They can learn to correctly interpret RIPA signals and practice how to react to other large vessels and in different weather and visibility circumstances. The ability to make mistakes without serious consequences encourages learning and continuous improvement, ensuring that future skippers and captains are prepared to act with confidence and security when faced with these situations in real life.
3. Accessibility and Flexibility in Training
Thanks to virtual reality, students are not dependent on weather conditions or the availability of boats to practice on.
They can conduct their training anytime, anywhere, facilitating consistent and accessible preparation. For those with busy schedules, this means unprecedented flexibility in training. Additionally, VR allows for the simulation of difficult conditions, such as storms or poor visibility, that would be difficult or dangerous to replicate in a traditional practice.
4. Immediate and Personalized Feedback
A key aspect of effective training is immediate feedback. In a virtual reality environment, trainees receive instant feedback on their decisions, allowing them to correct their mistakes on the fly and improve their understanding of RIPA. If a student makes a mistake by not respecting another vessel's right of way, the system can point out where they went wrong and how they should have acted. This real-time correction capability is invaluable to the learning curve, allowing for faster and more efficient progress.
5. Simulation of Complex Scenarios
On a real sailboat, it is difficult to recreate all the possible risky situations a sailor might face. However, virtual reality offers the possibility of programming a wide range of complex scenarios, from the crossing of multiple vessels to navigating in areas of dense traffic. These challenging scenarios, which would be difficult to reproduce in a conventional practice, can be accurately simulated, giving students a more complete exposure to the situations they might face during their career as skippers or captains.
