VRIMOR
From EuroVR Knowledge Base
- Full name
- Virtual Reality for Inspection, Maintenance, Operation and Repair of Nuclear Power Plants
- Acronym
- VRIMOR
- Website
- http://madeira.ls.fi.upm.es/decoroso/index.jsp?pagina=41&idProyecto=8AF4FEF9-000000F37C3D6FB0-440C1DD6&idioma=2
- Keywords
- Virtual humans, design and evaluation of human interventions, radiation dose computation
- Budget
- €
- Start date
- 2001/4/1
- End date
- 2003/4/1
Contents |
Partners
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
- National Nuclear Corporation, Ltd. (United Kingdom) (NNC)
- TECNATOM
- CIEMAT (Spain)
- Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (Belgium)(SCK.CEN)
- RTS (United Kingdom)
Funding Bodies
- Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology
- EC Projects
Contact
- Angélica de Antonio (angelica@fi.upm.es)
Objectives
The objective of the research was to evaluate the application of VR systems to minimise the occupational exposure of workers during maintenance activities at Nuclear Power Plants.
Main Results
- Scientific results:
Evaluation of the applicability of VR systems to minimise occupational exposure, risks and costs associated to maintenance activities in Nuclear Power Plants.
- Material results:
Prototype of a planning tool for human interventions in radiological environments
- Applicative results
Almaraz nuclear power plant (Spain) Pilot Test
UPM developed a planning and simulation tool, called HESPI, based on a combination of a graphical user interface and a voice interface. The goal of HESPI in the VRIMOR project was to help the personnel of a nuclear power plant in the design of an intervention. HESPI takes as input a geometrical model of the environment where the intervention is going to take place. The tool provides the designer of an intervention with a humanoid 3D model or mannequin that can be loaded into the desired environment and will be used by the designer as if he was manipulating a puppet. The 3D humanoid model that is used by the HeSPI tool is called Jack, and is commercially distributed by EDS. Jack is a very complex and powerful mannequin, with many degrees of freedom, inverse kinematics, and ergonomic constraints. However, it requires a long training to be able to design simulations by using the tool provided with Jack. The main challenge of HeSPI was to encapsulate Jack into an easy to learn user interface, taking into account that the intended users are not expected to have experience in the usage of three-dimensional applications, and they are not willing to spend a long time learning to use tools such as Jack. Our combination of a graphical user interface (GUI) and a voice recognition system offered good enough interaction possibilities as it was demonstrated in the evaluation of the project.
End Users
- Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant (Spain)
Evaluation Methodologies
Publications
- Usability Issues in the Design of an Intuitive Interface for Planning and Simulating Maintenance Interventions using a Virtual Environment. Angélica de Antonio, Ricardo Imbert, Jaime Ramírez, Xavier Ferré. Virtual Reality Journal. Vol 7, pp. 212-221. June 2004. Ed. Springer-Verlag
Application & Research Areas
