SubSafe - 3D Simulator
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Category:
Simulator / Serious GamesClient:
HFIDTC / Aerosystems Int. / Royal NavyProject URL:
www.incrediblesims.com
Incredible Box™ has a heritage for building pioneering software and using the Incredible Sims Toolkit™ we built SubSafe, an advanced 3D simulation of a Royal Navy Trafalgar class submarine.
The SubSafe project evolved following a request to the HFI DTC from the Submarine Integrated Project Team (IPT) at DE&S, Abbey Wood, to coordinate a new SMQ[D] study in which a comprehensive interactive computer model of an SSN submarine would be constructed. Professor Bob Stone, a prominent advocate for the benefits of using computer games for training purposes, approached Incredible Box™ to produce SubSafe, a Serious Game solution to support this study (see Wikipedia Serious Gaming article).
SubSafe implements a variety of gaming techniques to teach spatial awareness, object location and provide operation information for equipment. Our software generates detailed metrics reports, enabling the HFI DTC to evaluate the advantages of Serious Games against existing classroom and paper-based tuition methods.
A comprehensive evaluation of SubSafe is currently being undertaken by human factors specialists from the Universities of Birmingham and Cranfield, led by Professor Bob Stone – Research Director of the HFI DTC. The participants’ performances in locating safety critical items during their walkthrough onboard an actual submarine in week 7 of each participating SMQ[D] course will be recorded by means of instructor ratings and feedback. The data will then be analysed by the HFI DTC team to assess what, if any, benefits are afforded by SubSafe to trainees, over and above the PowerPoint-style training they currently receive. Knowledge fade will also be investigated, especially with those participants who return to Devonport having taken part in 6-month career-oriented training immediately following the SMQ[D] course.
[Control room from the Trafalgar class submarine]
About Incredible Sims Toolkit
Incredible Sims Toolkit™ is an easy-to-use PC application that allows you to navigate around 3D environments. At its core the Toolkit provides spatial-awareness training, enabling you to simulate processes and work-flow, for example:
- Demonstrator for new equipment
- Emergency and Disaster planning
- Health and Safety training
For more information go to the Incredible Sims™ website.
Project collaborators:
HFI DTC
The Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre works with the Ministry of Defence, providing them with cutting-edge Research & Development. The Ministry of Defence believes that there is a high payoff for UK Defence from collaboration within the broader UK science and technology community. Such collaboration means better equipment for MOD, more competitive products for industry and more opportunity for academia to exploit its ideas.
Professor Robert J Stone
BSc (Hons), MSc, C.Psychol, AFBPsS, FErgS, Eur.Erg, FIoN, FVRS
Bob Stone is Director of the Human Interface Technologies Team within the Department of Electronic, Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. He graduated from University College London in 1979 with a BSc in Psychology, and in 1981 with an MSc in Ergonomics (Human Factors), and currently holds the position of Royal Academy of Engineering Integrated Professor (Systems Engineering) at the University of Plymouth. In 1996, he became an Academician of the Russian International Higher Education Academy of Sciences (Moscow) and Honorable Professor of the South Russian State Technical University in 2007. Also in 2007, Bob was awarded the UK Ergonomics Society’s Sir Frederic Bartlett Medal, the highest award given by the Society to an individual for major contributions to human factors research and/or applications..
Bob’s applied R&D efforts since 1998 have concentrated on human-centred training/task analyses and simulator content definition, for the UK’s Armed Forces (close-range naval weapons, submarine training/rescue and, more recently, Army ordnance search and disposal activities), civilian and military surgery and unmanned vehicles. He sits on the Advisory Group and Evaluation Metrics Team for the US serious gaming project Pulse!! – an Office of Naval Research-funded serious gaming initiative led by Texas A&M University Corpus Christi which aims to develop a sophisticated medical trainer for battlefield scenario and terrorist incident management.
Aerosystems International
AeI was founded in 1985 to meet the challenge of delivering complex, embedded software systems on behalf of aerospace clients. AeI’s systems design, simulation, modelling and human factors integration expertise is increasingly in demand from clients who wish to exploit the convergence of software and electro-mechanical systems. These systems demand consideration of human factors integration, cost, reliability and safety issues if they are to function effectively.
