Serious simulators
Recently we published a selection of the most crazy simulators (where there is a cockroach simulator, for example!), and then thought about the problem seriously. Serious simulators – what they are?
We conducted our own research: we excavated the most non -standard and complex professional simulators, figured out how they work, found out where it all started, talked with people involved in the development of these mechanisms. Our story is about the amazing world of game systems that settled at the junction of two worlds, real and virtual, and brought them closer that sometimes the border between the two universes simply disappears.
I would go to the army
The first attempts to take computer games for the public service were made by military. In 1981, the US Department of Defense ordered companies Atari Military simulator based on the game popular in those days Battlezone , where the most advanced three -dimensional vector graphics were used. Some creators of the game turned out to be pacifists and did not want to work on a military order, but in the end Atari still released The Bradyy Trainer , Simulator Arrow BMP M2 "Bredley".
Nowadays, the game would not have pulled even to the arcade. From the landscape – only the horizon line, the enemies do not shoot in response, the only way to finish the game is to shoot all ammunition or get into an ally. But the simulator more or less accurately reproduces the BMP management elements and could teach the basics of handling: the use of optics, changing the type of cartridges, aiming the released rocket using a laser target designation system. The simulator did not go to the series, only two slot machines were released.
► One of The Bradyy Trainer machine guns went to the army, where the soldiers seemed to have broken it, and the second has survived and now occupies an honorable place in a private collection.
In the nineties studio ID Software made a revolution in a three -dimensional schedule. Many still nostalgically recall gloomy corridors Doom 2 , But few people know what exactly doom 2 was used to train American marines. Of course, in the classroom they did not fulfill the standard for the killing of demons and did not report to the sergeant for shameful death from a banal mancubus. For soldiers, they created a modification Marine doom , Where a more realistic weapon was added, and the corridors teeming with monsters were replaced by a virtual landfill with houses, barbed wire and firing positions.
► The first version of the famous America’s Army downloaded seventeen million times in a couple of years. They say that the success of the game greatly helped to accelerate the introduction of simulators into the US Army.
The US Department of Defense has not forced the love of high technologies at all to start training in the virtual space, but the budget cutting. Trips on combat equipment worth millions of dollars and shooting with real cartridges cost too expensive. So youth training began to gradually transfer to virtuality, and by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century the army spent tens of millions of dollars on the development and maintenance of the latest virtual complexes. But this is still cheaper than real exercises.
Army hardcore
The special forces group imposes explosives on the door. The explosion sounds, the door flies from the hinges, light grenade flies inside the room. Another explosion, and a special forces team burst into the room through a cloud of smoke into the room. Two men sitting at the table fall on the floor and on all fours are trying to get to the machine guns lying nearby. After a second, the entire room is filled with a booming roar of shots.
This is not a description of the police operation and not neutralizing the terrorist group with special forces. This is just a game. A game with real bullets, real explosives, real arrows, but virtual victims. At the virtual training ground LVS (Laser Shot Virtual Shoot House) Fort Bragg military base is trained about 70% of all American special forces.
► The LVS virtual landfill combines a shooting range and a training simulator. And also – door knocking simulator. They have to be changed regularly here.
With the help of dozens of projectors, the computer broadcasts the image on the walls of the landfill, and the walls themselves are made of high -tech material, which completely excludes ricochel. After the bullet enters into such a wall, the hole is tightened by itself. Sensors monitor the location of the projectile, the speed and angle of entry, after which the computer calculates the further trajectory – and the real bullet turns into a virtual one and continues its flight already in cyberspace.
The program is created by the company Laser Shot Inc. Its director Kevin Bass In the past, he was engaged in the creation of games and worked not somewhere, but in InterPlay. According to him, work on the creation of a virtual combat simulator is no different from the development of the game, except that priorities are others. For example, a soldier is not too worried about how beautiful you made a flower, does he have a shadow and grass around. All he needs is so that the flower of the flower in the wind is told to him the speed and direction of the wind. And so that a bullet fired from a sniper rifle has made the same way as in real life. If at least the slightest mistake crept into the calculations of ballistics, in real battle it can be a very unpleasant surprise. But there are no errors, verified by real shooting.
► The US military base on the shore of the Persian Gulf received a patrol boat simulator that can simulate sea pitching. To complete the training course, you need to check the skills of sailors in various weather conditions, and before everyone literally sat and waited by the sea of weather, now you can conduct exercises at any time.
Unlike static targets at a regular training ground, LVS targets have artificial intelligence: “They are well oriented in the situation and can adequately respond. Most virtual enemies act according to pre -recorded scripts, but are capable of independent actions. They will try to kill a soldier in any way available to them. The unarmed first of all trying to choose their machine. Some have the vests of suicide bombers stuffed with explosives, ”says Kevin Bass.
Real Batlefield
In the LVS simulator, electronic boobs can give back: if the soldier fell under a virtual shelling, a special device in a special design is lightly “hit” at the entrance site. This, of course, does not hurt. But on a civilian, a supersimulator was created, in which the effect of a bullet is recreated using Paintball machine guns. Here, bots can instruct the player of real bruises! To the output of the shooter Battlefield 3 authors of the popular British program The Gadget Show built for $ 650,000 an absolutely incredible building called Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator.
► Battlefield 3 simulator with paintball guns. Armed and very dangerous.
Five projectors recreate the picture on the walls of the dome with a diameter of nine meters and four heights. Running paths with rollers diverging from the center allow the player to go in any direction, practically remaining in place. Kinect controller monitors the player’s position, and twelve paintball rifles imitate shelling. If you ever played paintball yourself, then imagine what this means: from a distance of several meters, the hit of the ball with paint can cause pain even to a person in protection.
The first attempt to "play truly" ended sadly. The journalist who tried to go through the mission could not stand even one shootout: the system of tracking the movements of the weapon failed, and the camera rested against the sky. The bots simply shot a defenseless person, taking revenge on him for billions of fallen comrades. After a few seconds of such an execution, the simulator had to be disabled to pull out a somewhat beaten and swearing on which the journalist stands on the light.
► These lines are lined up with the virtual Army Experience pavilion.
If LVS is created for training marines, then the simulator VAE (Virtual Army Experience) performs a slightly less serious task: with its help, the American government raises young people for military service. It is engaged in it Zombie Studios , creating many military shooters (the last of them – Blacklight: Retribation ). A mobile caravan with equipment drives throughout the country, deploying here and there its inflatable pavilion with an area of almost two thousand square meters. And every time huge queues line up to him. Let it be impossible to shoot with real cartridges here, but in the VAE assortment there are six simulators based on real army jeeps of Hamvi (its civilian version is known as Hammer) and two full-size copies of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Briefing from real soldiers prepares participants for their virtual adventure, and special campaign videos talk about military service and glorious history of the US Army.
► Virtual Army Experience Contamination – a fascinating trip on jeeps in a very hostile territory.
The defense mission of the convoy lasts only a few minutes – the pavilion passes for an hour to 230 people, so it is impossible to allow visitors to sit in any way. All weapons are the exact copies of the present, and the special pneumatic mechanism imitates the return on the shots. Another device exactly reproduces a shaking from driving and explosions. With such accompaniment, not even the most outstanding graphics from America’s Army makes a completely indelible impression.
The attraction is available for free, but, of course, there is a catch. Winging to ride a jeep or helicopter is registered, and each young man of suitable age (and let them go there since thirteen years) falls into the field of view of army recruiters.
We play the doctor
Doctors and military are largely similar: representatives of both professions are dealing with people's lives, and their mistakes are sometimes very high. Every six to eight years, the amount of knowledge in medicine doubles, and doctors have to study constantly, despite the venerable age and decades of practice. Therefore, doctors rejoiced no less than the military, when virtual simulators began to produce for them even for them.
► Laparoscope simulator, one of the main tools in minimally invasive surgery.
The first medical simulators appeared in the sixties. For example, electromechanical mannequin Harvey was released in 1968. In appearance, he looks like those that we see in clothing stores, but in fact it was a serious cardiopulmonal simulator that could imitate 27 heart disease. Modern simulator robots can imitate such a list of diseases that it can be published by a separate book: their pupils react to the light, they can cough, sweat, mouth and nose are filled with saliva and mucus, the robot may well be wetted and bleeding, it needs to measure pressure , consider the pulse, listen to a stethoscope, measure the temperature and much more. Chopped chest wound? No problems. Gap of the spleen? Infarction? There will be everything you order. Medical mannequins can even speak and make different sounds that help doctors in diagnosis. Unfortunately, the price interferes with wide distribution … The simplest of these devices cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the cost of expensive models exceeds a quarter of a million.
► Get to know Harvey, one of the first robots-manecenes to simulate diseases.
But there are things much cheaper: software simulators. There is enough computer to launch them – of course, not as clearly as with a bleeding mannequin, but there are more capabilities. One of the vivid examples is the program Interactive Trauma Trainer , by order of the British military doctors. This is both a test, a cheat sheet, and a visual aid: for example, how to save a life to a man who received a wounded wound of the neck? By clicking the mouse, the user can conduct a whole virtual operation, and a person not even familiar with medicine will receive a general idea of the necessary actions and information about possible complications.
► On the mannequins, the military learn to save the wounded in battle of comrades.
Simulators greatly help the introduction of revolutionary technologies. In the nineties, minor surgery was widespread, in which the operation is conducted by the finest tools introduced inside through small punctures in the skin. Control is carried out using screens, at the end of the operation, even you need to sew anything. The problem is one: a person and his organs are three -dimensional, and the image on the screen is two -dimensional. How to do not cut off too much! Continuing apparatuses MIST VR – As a “joystick” here are two layouts of tools for the operation. Only we dig them not in living people, but in the virtual space, learning to navigate the monitors among internal organs.
► Fashion trend: simulators for professionals make their way to tablets, starting to resemble casual arcades. ARCHIEMD Training Simulator Simulator offers ready -made answers, and some questions are so simple that anyone will answer them.
Do not forget that medicine treats not only the body, but also the soul. Currently, future psychologists and psychiatrists train their skills on each other, arranging professional role -playing games, as well as passing practice in hospitals. Perhaps the situation will change soon: this year, at one hundred and twentieth annual congress of the American Psychological Association, psychologist Albert Ritzzo presented two programs-a virtual 16-year-old boy Justin with a disorder of behavior and a 15-year-old cyberdevochochka Justin, a victim of sexual violence. It turned out that building a simulator of one mental disorder is much more difficult than the simulator of hundreds of bodily diseases.
► serious games do not only for adults. For example, the bright and funny simulator of the Ludomedic hospital is designed to save children from fear of doctors.
The developers provided the program with a speech recognition system and artificial intelligence – the doctor just sits in front of the screen with a microphone, asks questions and receives exhaustive answers. Communication with such a simulator is no less impressive than the virtual boy Milo, whom Peter Moligne showed during the presentation of Kinect. And there and there, a person calmly communicates with a computer, as if with a real interlocutor. And the case is moving: the research of Professor Ritzo is sponsored by the US Department of Defense, which wants to use similar technologies for teaching military doctors.
Venus is medical
Perhaps the most unusual robot manecene is a birth simulator. And although students of medical universities have long been accustomed to such things and, if these lines are reading now, they are perplexed – what's the strange thing – for ordinary people the simulator looks intimidated. Some mannequins have no arms, legs and head. Anyway, nothing from this during childbirth is needed. But everything that is needed is modeled in detail.
Когда робота включают и «ребенок» начинает вылезать наружу — зрелище выходит не для слабонервных. On plastic babies, midwives work out different techniques for taking complex births. For example, you knew that the baby can be pulled out with a vacuum suction cup? This is something like a vacuum cleaner with a vantouss nozzle. Such a thing is inserted inside, put to the baby’s head, it is sucked up, and it is ready – you can pull. Only very carefully and on the right path. Instead of suction, special forceps are sometimes used, but this is an outdated method in which the risk of injuring mother or child increases.
Fly hunting
In 2012, future pilots began to master the latest Russian-made computer simulators issued in St. Petersburg worth from 30 to 60 million rubles each. Expensive? These are not the most expensive models. It’s also not cheap on real aircraft, the same old man An-2 easily burns out every hour 120 liters of aviation gasoline, and this is almost ten thousand rubles. At the same time, you cannot learn how to manage the Boeing on an AN-2 and gain work experience in emergency conditions.
► unlike virtual aircraft, real technique over time becomes unreliable. In 2011, at a Sasov school, one of the Yak-18T was simply refused by the engine. Instructor and cadet died.
The development of such advanced devices is engaged in the St. Petersburg company "" Transas ". It was here that the first Russian flight simulator was created with a mobile cabin of the highest level D. The simplest levels of level A can move the cabin in only three directions-tilt up and down, to the side and left and right. Level B requires a more accurate flight simulation system. Level C can move the cab in six directions, simulating acceleration, failures into air pits. At the highest level D, virtuality becomes almost unclosed from reality. Inside, the simulator completely imitates the cabin of the aircraft (in this case-An-148), and a shell is stretched on top of the internal walls of which the image is projected using projectors. The entire structure is placed on powerful electro -pneumatic pistons that provide mobility. With the help of aerial photography, programmers recreate a rather accurate virtual copy of any area so that the pilots learn to navigate on the ground.
► AN-148 airbus simulator, first Russian class D.
All this is not a simple whim and an extra waste of money. Each trifle is important. In 2001, the A300 Airbus crashed in the United States, which claimed the lives of two hundred and sixty -five people. At first they suspected a terrorist attack, but then it turned out that his tail fell off the plane. And he fell off due to the fault of the pilot, which on the old simulator is used to actively using the direction of the direction to restore the stability of the aircraft in the turbulence zone. The virtual plane withstand such unceremonious appeal, but the real one -. A modern class D modern simulator is so accurately modeling a real aircraft or helicopter that if a professional pilot has passed on it to a new type of aircraft, then it will allow it to skip the preliminary flights and immediately release on a commercial flight.
Sea simulators are also carried out in Transas, known far beyond the borders of Russia. If only a few people manage by plane or helicopter, then on the ship the number of personnel is calculated in dozens. Therefore, one simulator cannot be dispensed with. You have to develop individual systems for almost every workplace in all its options. One list could take a whole article: the simulator of the captain of a small vessel, the swimming simulator in the ice conditions, the simulators of the ship power station, the machine department and even the unique one, not having analogues abroad, the refrigerator simulator.
► Virtual tugboat captain enters the port.
To finally make sure how realistic such simulators are, you need to look at the fleet control simulator. It looks unpretentious – like a regular computer class. Students can take on different roles, from the gateway manager to the controller of the whole port. While the system acts on its own, it is just a simulator, an exact 99%. To overcome the remaining percentage, it is enough to connect the vessel monitoring system, after which the simulator can be used to manage real fleets! Drawing up a schedule, a plan of transportation, response to emergency situations – all this is embedded in the program and can be used both in the computer class and in real life.
Business is a business
How to sell a car? What will happen if you give a habit to the client? How to find a right approach to him? All these questions will be answered by the branded program created by the French auto giant Renault. This is a simulator of an intractable buyer, on which about 20,000 employees of the company were trained, in an understandable interactive form, comprehending the wisdom of the conclusion of business transactions. The program teaches how to work in a team with colleagues, proprietary techniques of managers, psychology, communication skills and much more. Let there not be a question of people's lives, but money is a serious matter, so before starting working with living customers, it is worth it to practice once again.
► Simulator of the Captain's bridge from the company "Transas".
In general, the game began to penetrate into the business sphere for a long time. Now few people remember the cosmic shooter The Colony , published in 1988 on Apple Macintosh. Three -dimensional schedules, and fairly detailed rooms (tables, chairs, TVs, even pots with flowers!) Randed in real time, which at that time was simply amazing. James Cameron immediately clung to such an opportunity and ordered for filming the film " Abyss »A modified version, which was used as a virtual camera for planning and testing the scenes removed.
And the next project someone can even take their dreams for the game. This is a business simulator SharkWorld , imitating the work of the director of the aquarium for sharks, and part -time – a swimming pool. Do not be afraid, sharks and visitors will swim separately, and this is not important, because we have completely different tasks. You need to look after the construction, calculate the risks, negotiate, collect the team. And you can be sure – your work will not be calm. The developers added almost a detective plot to the game, starting with the mysterious disappearance of the previous leadership of the project, so get ready for all the troubles that can only be!
► For the time in the simulator of the SharkWorld manager, you have to communicate with real people – boss, workers and even one crazy professor.
If ordinary games reward successful players with achievements, then serious games and prizes are given serious. One of the largest Dutch legal companies, Houthoff Buruma , released the absorption simulator of corporations. According to the plot, the Chinese ministry decided to invest a lot of money in one energy project. But its implementation requires six unique devices and technologies that are in the hands of the Dutch company, and not simple, but with centuries -old traditions – a family business, and a very successful. In 90 minutes, the player needs to convince a sufficient number of shareholders to sell you a control package of shares, and then prepare a “letter about intentions”, so that the former owners do not hire killers, thereby expressing their dissatisfaction. It is difficult to win in this game. But the prize is worthy. A graduate of the Law College, who showed his skill in the absorption of companies, receives a position in the company and can count on a good career.
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Serious simulators gradually cease to be the lot of professionals and penetrate deeper into our daily life. Sometimes we don't even notice this. For example, a newcomer-photographer who bought a mirror, instead of reading multi-page Talmudes, can simply start the Camerasim program-a camera’s virtual simulator that clearly demonstrates the effect on the quality of the focus, diaphragm settings, excerpts and other parameters.
Those who want to play on the Forex virtual exchange before spending real money can practice the Forex Tester Exchange simulator. The ability to do something independently, albeit for a pond, automatically puts simulators above all other training methods. And this is not news. After all, two and a half thousand years ago, Confucius said: “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Let me do – and I will understand ".