Due to the rapid climate change and frequent natural disasters, firefighters are trying to combine technology with their training. Australia and the United States fire departments have decided to use virtual reality (VR) for firefighters training. By wearing a headset, trainees are able to experience real-life scenarios. The whole purpose of using this technology, VR, is to put trainees in all different types of possible scenarios, let them make decisions, and let them make mistakes. Fortunately, VR technology is well developed that it could provide the trainees with realistic smoke, fire, water, and fire-extinguishing foam. Trainees are provided with a heat suit that could replicate and render the hot temperature in the fire; the heat proximity and orientation are controlled and designed by the software. The advantages of having this technology are that the VR allows the firefighters to have the first-hand experience. VR allows them to have different kinds of the situation of fire and flames that they will eventually encounter during their firefighting career. Another advantage that they have is environmental-friendly. Back when they did traditional training, they released smoke and pollutants into the atmosphere to demonstrate the real-life scenarios. Also, it required a lot of water which wasted the water as well. However, by using VR technology, it is clear that VR allows the firefighter not to pollute the air and not to waste the water as well.
I think the idea of using virtual reality to do training for firefighters is awesome. I love the features that they have with their suits and headsets where they could actually feel the heat and see the devastating situation. I think by doing so, they could prepare themselves and train themselves for any kind of situation that may occur. Also, by using these, we could protect the environment and resource itself. I think this kind of training should be conducted throughout the world as soon as possible.
Source:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/tech/virtual-reality-firefighter-training/index.html
Virtual Reality keeps advancing on the daily, it keeps improving at a fast pace that I can’t even keep up to date with, most people that think of Virtual Reality usually associate it with “Virtual Reality Games” when looked up, or “Virtual Reality” experiences for a thrilling time. It indeed amazes me how they’re able to take it to the next level and use it for actual training for skill purposes.
I do believe that in the future, this technology will drastically improve for the better and evolve from the current form of it having a large headset with goggles, and soon it will be easier to also implement body motion tracking easier than what it is right now, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this kind of technology!
VR technology is certainly breaking bounds into bringing forth better ways of entertainment, and also training. As a personal VR owner, I know how much entertainment the device can bring, and I also own several applications that are training-like simulators that I could use to familiarize myself with a situation. The technology like you said for the firefighters is certainly more advanced than the typical VR headsets, but that only makes it an even better piece of technology for training these firefighters in simulated environments. I love VR and I think it will have many breakthroughs in the near future is not just the training and entertainment industry, but also in our world itself. VR could be the next big thing in society. And from what is brings so far, I only see it reaching new heights and succeeding among society.
I think that virtual reality training for firefighters is a very effective training tool. The VR training will allow firefighters to make decisions and see how those decisions change the outcome of a call in a safe environment. This will also allow firefighters to make mistakes without risking anyone’s life.
In addition to firefighting, I think that VR technology could be useful in many other professions. Doctors could use it to practice surgery, and as mentioned in a previous blog post, VR can help people with PTSD or other mental health disorders.
Overall, I think that VR technology is a great way to train people in a safe and risk-free environment.
https://www.targetsolutions.com/company-blog/firefighter-virtual-reality-training/
VR is becoming more mature as demand from both the general public and government agencies are urging for its development. the VR training for firefighters is really impressive in terms of creating a realistic environment for firefighters to get as close to reality as they can without any potential injuries during the training process. Such technology is not only used in the fire department but also in the military.
We know that the U.S spends lots of its tax money into military training and developing, and sometimes soldiers got serious injuries from its daily training. So by adopting this technology in military can significantly reduce the training cost, because each cycle of training is just another simulation using the same devices. It is also more flexible as you would only need to set up a room for training rather than creating an actual battlefield.
Source:
https://readwrite.com/2017/10/26/government-vr-uses/
I think this is an excellent use of VR technology. As you said, this is an environmentally friendly way to train new firefighters, and that’s always a positive. With VR technology developing as it is, we are able to give realistic simulations so that new firefighters can train in a more realistic environment. I’m happy to see VR technology be used in new and creative ways to help benefit the world.
That is interesting how firefighters can train by using VR. Did you know that police officers also use VR to train for military and law enforcement. For example, one training scenario that I found fascinating was called training stop. In this simulation, there is an avatar that is controlled by someone. The officer training pulls over the avatar and has to respond according to the avatar. The avatar could react in a good or bad way. The training simulation gives the officers a chance to be in different scenarios as well. Included with VR they will also add audio visual equipment and simulated weapons making it easy to train anywhere.
https://www.policefoundation.org/virtual-reality-technology-changes-the-game-for-law-enforcement-training/
I am finding that VR is being used for many new things. Someone else commented about an article and how VR can be used in therapy when dealing with mental health issues such as PTSD so reading about it being used in firefighter training reminded me of that. I think it is really interesting and a great idea to have this be part of firefighter training. I think that a real life simulation can be so beneficial when training to give firefighters “hands on” type experience.
On the site I linked below, it talks about the benefits and actually has a video of what a simulation like this would look like. Some of the benefits listed are that it can provide training for situations that would otherwise be dangerous, cheaper, and easy to train using the technology at all different fire stations and training sites. Overall I think this is a great advancement in technology and could be very useful!
https://www.trainingfordisastermanagement.com/products/adms-fire/
This could be very effective training for the new firefighters since it is difficult to train new firefighters unless there is an actual fire. I like the idea of using a heated suit to simulate different zones when fighting a fire so they can learn from their mistakes. This also shows us how far technology has come that we can train firefighters without actually having a real fire present.
This technology is also important considering all the major fires that have taken place across the globe. There is definitely a huge demand for firefighters which means new firefighters will need training as soon as possible. VR technology to train firefighters will allow them to enter the field quickly with enough knowledge to make a difference.