Virtual reality creates endless opportunities for more efficient employee training, and one such opportunity is currently being explored by British rail operator London North Eastern Railway (LNER).
The rail operator has recently partnered with SenseGlove to use its Nova gloves to teach railroad staff how to assemble train ramps.
The Nova gloves are capable of providing real-time haptic force feedback in sync with interactions in VR, allowing trainees to feel when they grab, hold, and move parts just like they would in real life.
The railroad staff who participated in the VR training sessions using the Nova gloves then provided their feedback, which revealed that 90 percent of them felt ready to assemble a ramp in real life without any further training.
SenseGlove launched its first haptic force feedback gloves, the DK1, in 2018. The Nova gloves are the second iteration of the product. According to SenseGlove, more than 300 organizations have so far purchased the SenseGlove Nova to conduct VR training and look into other potential applications of the technology.
“SenseGlove force feedback technology is the most crucial element of realistic simulation, as it provides the feeling of the size and density of virtual objects,” writes SenseGlove on its website. “Combined with vibrotactile feedback to feel impact simulations, SenseGlove VR gloves create the most intuitive experience.”
Virtual reality training using haptic force feedback gloves is especially well-suited for tasks that are either too expensive or too dangerous to be trained in the real world.
