PC-based Personal Simulator for off-highway mine tracks

摘要

When you teach your teenagers to drive, you expect the car to get a few dents (hopefully nothing worse) as they learn. Likewise, teaching adults to operate heavy equipment can be hazardous to both the equipment and the trainees, especially in the initial 20-50 percent of training. Yet the students cannotlearn without seeing, hearing and getting the feel of the equipment. Training simulators have become available in recent years, which satisfy this need while avoiding the risks to personnel and machines and reducing the number of hours that equipment is removed from production, but the simulators are expensive. Simlog Inc. of Montreal has found a way to make simulator training more affordable, using a client's own PC and projector, with either off-the-shelf PC controls or replica controls with elements from real trucks connected through the USB port. The company has developed training systems for off-highway trucks and wheel loaders, and soon will release systems for mine trucks and electric rope shovels.