Man the virtual davit station for training

Group Editor Marty Kauchak reports on Vestdavit’s VR training system for shipboard davit operators.

The training device this author “operated” (above) at the symposium, supports training for one davit model delivered by Vestdavit, Inc., to the US Government and other nations’ services and was completed last August.

One of the “discoveries” on the 2019 Surface Navy Association exhibition floor in Arlington, Virginia, was Damsgårdsveien, Norway-based Vestdavit AS’s (Vestdavit) virtual reality (VR) simulator for davit operation training. The company is a supplier of davit (shipboard crane) systems to the US Navy, Coast Guard and 13 other naval services around the globe. Vestdavit is fielding its VR training system to allow operators on its systems to learn and rehearse their tasks safely and, if necessary, repetitively, prior to touching the actual davit console.

Edmonds, Washington (US)-based Magnus Oding, the General Manager of Vestdavit noted the training device supports training for one davit model delivered to the US Government and other nations’ services and was completed last August. He added, “The remote controller used in this VR training kit is the same controller that is used in the actual davit. We will deliver this with the davit system to give customers a training tool for a classroom setting.” The VR training system for this one davit model is available for shipping.

Conceptually, this VR training system could also be used onboard ship – allowing operators to further gain confidence by rehearsing their operations with a high-fidelity training device prior to manning their davit stations.

In a scenario completed by the author, a boat was placed to the rail, lowered and then recovered  in a low sea state. Vestdavit is expanding the state of the possible in training by increasing the VR training system’s scenario “library.” Scenarios under development will support other Vestavit davit models as well as training in more rigorous sea states and other environmental conditions. “We also have at home office our ‘version 2’ with much higher sea states and rougher weather for this model,” the executive concluded.

Vestdavit’s in-house team completed many training system development tasks; a partner company in Bergen, Norway integrated the various system components.