Simulation technology that offers would-be operators a safer approach to training on heavy equipment is now commonplace in the transportation construction sector.
MIT aims to advance the machine operations simulation experience and shorten the time it takes operator trainees to get up to speed with intuitive technology and “world-space” interface.
Simulator technology has been used in heavy equipment training for many years now with dramatically positive results.
In lineman safety training, CM Labs found that every week a trainee spends on a heavy equipment simulator equates to two weeks or more in the field.
Training times and safety improve simultaneously, said Daniel Cooper of the American Line Builders Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (ALBAT).
In a joint webinar hosted last year, Cooper and CM-Labs' Gary James discussed how simulation can change how workforce development is approached.
Cooper and James both believe simulation technology allows trainees to make mistakes safely, learn faster and retain more.
Keeping It Real With Less Stress
MIT photo
In the webinar, Cooper said that his goal in adding simulation to ALBAT's lineman training program was improved safety.
“Our biggest training reason for bringing in simulation was that safety aspect,” he said in the discussion. “The movements feel real without the danger.”
Heavy equipment simulators empower students to fail safely and learn from their mistakes, believes CM Labs.
This approach reduces the stress and pressure of live equipment for trainees as they are still learning.
Starting on real equipment straight from the classroom can be dangerous and cause serious accidents, said CM Labs.
“So, using the simulator as a stepping stone during training helps with heavy equipment operator safety.”
In the webinar, James agreed that simulation training allows students to learn from their mistakes in a safe and risk-free manner.
“If you don't do it wrong a hundred times, you'll never get it right,” he said.
Cooper said after just five minutes on the simulator, ALBAT operators told him, “Oh, I can feel the seat. I know my outrigger is floating right now.”
Students know they're digging against a utility that they shouldn't be digging against because they can actually feel it in the chair.
He added, “That's a really excellent tool to have for heavy equipment operator safety training.”
The two men believe simulation training is an engaging approach to learning for students, on a deeper level than classroom lectures or presentations.
By providing hands-on practice, simulation training offers a more engaging experience. Plus, with simulators students can observe and learn from each other.
Hands-on simulation lessons also can foster healthy competition between students, as they check who can get the better score or the fastest time.
“You'll have your star student telling another apprentice how to do it and why it's done in that manner,” said Cooper.
This leads to their retaining more information while fostering team building and making for a more enjoyable learning experience overall.
The final point Cooper and James stressed in their webinar is that the use of simulation for operator training has been a big shift for the construction industry.
Simulation affords those completely unfamiliar with the industry the opportunity to join the workforce and learn both safely and efficiently.
“Drop your bravado,” said Cooper. “Yes, we didn't have these simulators when I came through.” And “live action” will always be best training practice.
“But if you have a creative nature in your body, you can use it to evaluate this next host of operators and apprentices,” he added.
Heavy equipment simulators make work attainable to aspiring operators without the stress or dangers previous generations faced.
It's also less nerve-wracking for instructors, he and James said. It provides numbers, facts and data-driven analysis that removes any pass-or-fail guesswork.
Critical Starting Point for More Proficient, Safer Workforce
Adobe Stock photo
Caterpillar simulators provide trainees a controlled environment to learn foundational skills, practice complex techniques and build confidence.
And they experience these benefits long before they ever climb into a cab, according to a Cat Simulators blog post.
Companies and training institutions are using simulation to reduce incidents, reinforce best practices and create consistent training standards, said Cat.
“We want to make sure our people are safe,” said David Leonard group technical manager of McConnell Dowell. “Simulation helps us do that by letting them experience hazards before they encounter them on the job.”
Cat believes Leonard's perspective reflects a growing industry shift toward proactive, scenario-based safety training.
“Safety training no longer begins on the job site — it begins in a risk-free environment where operators can make mistakes, correct them and improve.”
In fact, in another blog post, Cat details how students at the Empower College & Career Center are gaining real-world skills through simulator training.
The center's heavy equipment operator (HEO) pathway in Jefferson, Ga., was one of the state's first dedicated HEO pathways.
Empower expanded its training environment with a Cat Simulators training package allows students to practice working together on a coordinated, simulated job site.
At Paul D. Camp Community College in Franklin, Va., HEO students receive hands-on training and an industry-aligned curriculum.
Learners range from recent high-school graduates to adults seeking new skills, a career change or the confidence to operate equipment safely on their property.
After completing the eight-week NCCER Core Curriculum prerequisite, students attend classes two evenings a week for 10 weeks.
They receive hands-on training on the college's Cat Simulators — dozer, wheel loader and excavator central to the Level 1 HEO program.
Students typically complete approximately 30 hours of simulator time. There's flexibility for those who need more practice or advance more quickly.
“The closer we can emulate the real equipment, the better prepared our students are.”
Could Better Mousetrap Be Found?
Excavator operators must learn complicated mental maps to direct a digger to move rocks, grade soil, clear debris and dig foundations.
In fact, it can often take years for operators to build up expertise in maneuvering the heavy machines.
MIT engineers want to shorten the learning curve for excavator operators with a new training interface and more intuitive controller.
Instead of using joysticks, the team has designed a controller that resembles a miniature excavator's arm and bucket. Trainees grasp the device and use their arm and hand to make it move as an excavator does.
Meanwhile a digital excavator projected on an immersive six-screen display mirrors the trainee's movements in a virtual environment.
“This is a more intuitive way to command the machine,” said Hermano Krebs, principal research scientist of MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering. “With this new interface, we can eliminate a lot of the mental maps that an operator would need to build in order to operate an excavator.”
Jennifer Chu of MIT News reported that Krebs sees the interface as a faster way to train excavator operators.
Krebs also envisions a new way to physically operate the machines, both on site and remotely.
“Instead of having joysticks, you might have this miniature arm on the side, where the operator would place their own arm, kind of like an exoskeleton.”
This technology would allow them to operate the excavator in the cab, Krebs said.
“If work has to be done in a difficult or unsafe environment, you could have an operator sitting off site in a trailer and using this arm to remotely tele-operate.”
The team of Moises Alencastre-Miranda, Joao Buzzatto and Eran Beeri Bamani reported its results in the Journal of Computing and Civil Engineering.
The trio worked with collaborators from Sumitomo Heavy Industries, industrial machinery manufacturer based in Japan.
At MIT, Krebs' group works on human-robot interactions, with a long-time focus on physical rehabilitation.
They accumulated knowledge about the ways in which humans control their limbs and how they can most intuitively interact with machines.
Operators typically learn by driving actual excavators on a controlled driving course. As they operate the machine, novices must learn to relate the actions of the excavator's joysticks with the movements of the arm, bucket and cab.
Coordinating these actions to carry out actual tasks adds another level of complexity that can take months to years to master.
The team reasoned that if they could eliminate the need for this mental map, they might significantly shorten the training process.
To do so, they looked for a more natural way to control the machine, as an alternative to the traditional joysticks and landed on the mechanical arm design.
The resemblance to the digger's arm and bucket could enable operators to mimic and control the excavator's movements directly with less mental translation.
The combination of the mechanical arm and virtual simulator constitutes a new training and control platform for digger operators, World-Space Interface.
“'World-space' refers to everything in the world that is outside of yourself, or in this case, outside of the excavator's cab,” Krebs said.
Normally, operators must build a mental map of how to manipulate things in the world-space, he said.
“But now, we can just mime picking up rocks or dirt, and the computer will do that translation to the world-space for us.”
