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Bouygues to use VR in safety training

23 Mar 17 Successful trials of a virtual reality (VR) training module have convinced Bouygues of the potential for wider use.

Bouygues is to collaborate with HTC Vive to develop VR training to help prevent accidents prevention on construction sites.

The decision follows use of an initial module concerning risks associated with the placement of formwork elements. Bouygues Construction and HTC Vive have reached an agreement to simulate hazardous situations under conditions that are close to real life but pose no actual danger. The aim is to make site workers aware of hazards and train them using realistic cases to help them anticipate and perform better when faced with the real thing.

“Bouygues Construction has already shown itself to be a pioneer with regard to virtual reality applications for visualising buildings and structures before construction and making more informed choices during the design phase,” said Hervé Fontaine, vice president, virtual reality B2B and business development at HTC Vive. “It was obvious that our collaboration could go further with respect to aspects relating to construction sites, safety and training. The Vive Business Edition will enable Bouygues Construction to roll out its virtual reality trainings in its internal network. The recent arrival of Vive Tracker, which makes it possible to use real objects as tools within virtual reality training modules, opens up very interesting possibilities for training that deals with at-risk situations in an extremely convincing way.”

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Roland Le Roux, head of virtual reality and open innovation at Bouygues Construction, added: “Virtual reality is proving extremely popular in property development, architecture and the design of structures. The whole purpose of the collaboration between Vive and Bouygues Construction is to bring virtual and augmented reality into the universe of construction sites and the operation of buildings and structures. In these areas, the Vive Business Edition system is clearly the most effective tool and the one that is closest to our needs, particularly because of its range of accessories.”

Sensory immersion makes it possible to simulate a falling object onsite, a fire, a missing safety barrier or the effect of having your capacities reduced by drink or drugs so that people can experience accidents that would have heavy consequences in real life.

Future development is leading to the manipulation of real objects in the virtual world, thanks in particular to research recently launched for a doctoral thesis, as well as to human interactions that could make distance learning possible, especially with regard to high-risk tasks.

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