The Application Of Virtual Reality Technology In The Container Crane Training Simulator

The Container Crane Training Simulator is an integrated system including scene model, training module, and communication equipment. Aiming at simulating the actual operation of container crane at seaport, a training system with stereo display, interaction between operator and machine, and training devices is developed by applying the VR technology. A roaming engine based on robot model, a dynamics model, and a collision detection engine are realized.Crane models are built using 3D Max software based on the structure of actual cranes. To increase the responding speed of the system, the software named WUModeler is applied to optimize the models besides using the different texture mapping and LOD mapping. Furthermore, the Lagrange dynamic equations, both in 2D space and 3D space, are used to describe the dynamic aspects of cranes after the actual movements of cranes are analyzed. Runge-Kutta method is applied to solve the Lagrange equations. The equations of state are proposed to describe the movement of the working crane at every moment. The virtual roaming engine, being a key in VR, is realized based on the virtual robot model. The model reading, the scene rendering, the viewpoint transforming, the mapping with the robot, the state control by input signal and the engine of collision detection are also realized. The cuboids box arithmetic, WTK's intersect arithmetic and the sphere envelop arithmetic are applied to build the collision detection engine. In addition, an interface is provided for reference and output. Driving and communicating hardware, such as Ascension Flock of Birds, 5DT data glove, Cyber Mind, BARCO Gemini, are connected to interact with the software and to control the movement of the geometry model.Supported by the developing platform of VC++, all the software and hardware are integrated together to provide a VR environment for training the operating crane machines.