Technical students from the Royal Netherlands Navy can now make virtual acquaintance with naval ships. They do this with a Virtual Reality (VR) programme that Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS), Thales Nederland and the maritime innovation cluster Extended Reality developed for them. The programme was commissioned by the Royal Dutch Navy last Wednesday, prior to the signing of the contract for a new supply vessel.
The so-called Intro-TD-OPV experience was created for students of the Royal Navy Technical Training. Supported by game techniques and a narrative, the student moves over the HNLMS Holland, a patrol ship of the Holland class and learns, playfully, the functional design of the ship and the location of the systems on board.
The idea is that VR technology, game technology and gamification contribute to innovative education. With this, the Royal Netherlands Navy tries to fascinate and bind the technical target group. After all, the defence sector in general, and the Royal Navy in particular, nowadays need all the tools to recruit and retain suitable personnel.
The VR programme was developed in close collaboration with the maritime innovation cluster Extended Reality. This cluster is largely run by naval personnel from the Simulation Center Maritime (SimCenMar). Here experiments are performed with all kinds of possibilities of extended reality. For the realisation of this VR project, DSNS worked closely with students from the Media Designer course at Scalda in Vlissingen. They participated in the course 3D models and graphics. To date, more than ten trainees have been involved in DSNS’s ever-growing VR/AR department.
