Assignment 3 Report

Overview

Can you truly say your skills will hold up on the field? Find out with this explosive (or hopefully not) defusal simulator.

Didn't have my hands on a headset to record any meaningful gameplay. Could maybe do this later?

Description

For my 3rd assignment in KIT208, a VR application, I have decided to create a dangerous job training application based on disarming explosive devices.

Defusal VR is an application built for VR interfaces that allows the user to run bomb disposal training drills within virtual environments aiming to simulate real world situations someone part of a bomb squad could potentially experience. Once started, the user is placed within a situation of their choosing (not implemented but intended) where the bomb is located. They are given tools (currently only wire cutters) and a few notes (for hints/training as would most likely not have such items in a real situation) that they can use in order to diffuse the bomb that lies in front of them. Events tied to the current environment the user is in shall cause distractions for them (helping simulate a real situation) such as sirens and flashing lights from emergency vehicles representing an evacuation. Interacting with the bomb in an incorrect way will cause it to explode (not really, just play an explosion noise) whereas if the right steps are taken, the user will successfully defuse the bomb. A complete version of this application would provide several different realistic environments and situations to place the user in and a variety of bombs that reflect real life models that they may have to diffuse with tools they would have on hand when they find themselves in a similar situation.

This application of a VR interface in the training for dangerous jobs has already taken off the ground proving the concept works as "VR based visual learning offers effective ways for training new skills"[1]  whilst not exposing trainees to the actual dangers they are training against with minimal setup costs when compared to organising training camps etc. VR bomb disposal training itself is still very underdeveloped if at all as the idea is predominantly restricted to entertainment in the form of games. If, however,  an actual accurate realistic bomb disposal simulation was created using a VR interface, it would be an incredibly significant step in the field as unlike physical demonstrations and drills,  it would allow for training in explosive and ordinance defusal to be conducted without prior setup of any physical location or materials such as dummy explosives or hazardous areas. "VR spaces, in general, are extremely useful generic tools for supporting learning and memory management”[1]  which could potentially significantly decrease the time it would take to fully train someone in the area (as there is less of a waste of time for setup and potentially can be done from great distance) while also yielding the benefit of decreased costs not having to hire locations/venues and the like as there is no physical aspect, to better spend resources elsewhere to further the efficiency of operations.

Interactions/storyboard

(Extremely exaggerated :) )

The main and only screen in the application is the main scene the user is placed into on start, the warehouse. This is where all the players actions take place as they pick up, press drop items and move around the scene. In future versions of this project, there would be a menu screen that the player could use to change settings such as volume and select the scenario they want to play out. Everything is done with the VR controllers which is necessary as they are the main input devices that pair with VR devices.

Technical Development

This application is designed to be used on a virtual reality headset device. Every interaction within the application was created with VR in mind and will not work without it. There is no display other than the timer text that tells the user the bombs status. There is also no menu UI but would be one of the most important implementations in future versions.

3D Model

Bomb model

A model that is meant to represent what an accurate model of a real bomb would look like in a fully implemented version of an application such as this.

Cutter model

A model that represents wire cutters. The point is to  give the user tools they would expect to have on hand in real situations.

Warehouse model

A warehouse model that is the environment the player is put into. This represents one of the potentially many a user could be placed into.

References

1 - T. Kaarlela, S. Pieskä and T. Pitkäaho, "Digital Twin and Virtual Reality for Safety Training," 2020 11th IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Infocommunications (CogInfoCom), Mariehamn, Finland, 2020, pp. 000115-000120, doi: 10.1109/CogInfoCom50765.2020.9237812.

- Sound effects -

Ticking clock sound effect from https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/ticking-clock-1-27477/ Pixabay

Explosion sound effect from https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/explosion-01-6225/  Pixabay

Emergency siren sound effect from https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/distant-ambulance-siren-6108/ Pixabay

All 3D models and illustrations were created by me specifically for this project.