UNSW senior research fellow at the school of mining engineering Dr Phillip Stothard told International Longwall News the technology, developed in collaboration with Coal Services and ACARP, has proven successful after it was installed at the Newcastle Mines Rescue Station.
He explained the simulations - based on training competencies - confront miners with representations of real-life problems they might encounter on the worksite, allowing training in a low risk but highly interactive atmosphere.
The simulators are the first to operate in a stereoscopic, panoramic and cinematic environment.
A 120 square metre circular screen completely surrounds and immerses the audience in 3D imagery while a vision-based motion tracking system tracks and responds to the movements of the trainee, creating a complete virtual environment.
Coal Services has funded four units to be placed at mine rescue sites across NSW to be used for training and the commercial distributor of the simulators - NSInnovations - is in supply discussions with other interested buyers.
"The modules have gone from the research aspect to become a real training tool and operators are taking ownership of the system and are tailoring it exactly for their training needs," Stothard said.
"We've worked with the industry experts to get the resolution of the mines simulations to a very high standard, so it actually looks like the mine environment, and it means the trainees have an accurate visualisation of the underground environment.
"And it's interactive so they've got to learn about the environment and reacting accordingly when they're learning rather than passively watching a video."
To make the units even more realistic, Stothard said UNSW has had requests from the industry to incorporate real-time data into the simulations, a concept he said was of great interest to the university.
"That will entail connecting real machine data to the simulations so the simulations become dynamic and respond as it would in the real environment," Stothard said.
"So rather than just being a high resolution computer that's interactive it will also have high fidelity and involve the way machinery interacts and the operational aspects of the mine."
