O&G: refinery operations

This simulator for Oil&Gas industry is training refinery workers to work with the latest technologies. Both, the new workers and the experienced ones are being introduced with the new working process as well as practising the emergency escape.

Project

Refinery operations are meant for onsite workers of this oil & gas facility. While taking all the safety precautions, the trainee is able to do a new task he is addressed with and therefore learn how to behave under intense conditions.
Target audience: oil refinery workers, technical and service staff, students.

This project was initiated by our company in order to show virtual reality capabilities for safe and qualitative employee training. We take into consideration different oil & gas facilities and made different adaptations for two of them - platform and refinery. This one is focused on refinery operations as those tasks that have to be accomplished on the ground require different preparations than the ones executed on the platform.

This simulator can be used for employees of actual oil & gas refinery facilities, new members planning to join technical teams. It can be a great visualization of the actual work of a refinery employee for the ones who are thinking about the job and those who are seeking practical and theoretical knowledge put into one realistic experience.

Development time: 2,5 months
Engine: Unity
Platform: PC + HTC Vive
Setting: Nowadays
Visual style: realism
Language: multi (ENG/RU/LT)
Age: 12+
Stage: demo

01- Research

Solutions providing both, instant and long-term advantages

Research process for Oil & Gas industry described in the other, Oil & Gas Platform, product's page lead us to realization of the size of the industry. This actually matters in terms of the different working conditions and circumstances we needed to showcase in recreated environments. As specialists are prepared to work with the equipment on the ground, the whole working behavior process are different because of the difference of facilities. In collaboration with human performance specialists, we have extracted the key aspects that refinery workers need to be trained with in order to achieve the best possible results and adapt the mindset that will lead to according results. Our R&D team have designed custom tools ranging from specific user interface design to comfortable object picking mechanics in order to adapt the simulator for the potential worker's behavior.

Moreover, we have developed a solution for input of all the necessary work uniforms meaning the employee, if needed, will have the opportunity to customize his appearance in the virtual reality to match his own preference settings for places to hold tools, helmets and other equipment.

02- Development

90 % of training knowledge absorption

To put simply, our training simulator consists of two stages - fixing oil pumping engine and safe evacuation from the warehouse facility. We have implemented 2D guidance through-out the scenario in order to achieve the maximum clearness. After some tests we have figured out the need of text instructions as well next to audio ones and implemented the solution into the main navigation menu. Realistic environment where the actions happens is recreated after the real-life facility, using 3D models and realistic texturing with the reference image material.

03- Maintenance

Ready to create custom solutions

As our demo version shows off the possibilities of VR integration into employee training, we are ready to develop custom solutions for a particular client with a need. Our technicians are constantly developing new tools and therefore creating always up to date virtual experiences that are meant for the latest VR platforms, but can flawlessly work on the old generation as well. We have all the resources needed for investigating the industry and doing R&D for customized solutions. We are consulting with human performance specialists in order to guarantee maximum progress and successful integration of the technology into the natural employee training process.
Click to see the video-captured VR experience on Vimeo →