CMLabs has been selected to develop a lattice boom crane operator training simulator for the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO).

CMLabs’ Vortex physics engine will be the basis of the heavy equipment simulator to be delivered in spring of 2008. This contract follows the successful delivery of both mobile (pictured above) and tower crane training simulators to OETIO over the past two years.

The training site was not able to get permits for certain heavy equipment operations such as pile driving and dragging. Therefore, OETIO needed a simulator capable of providing the high level operator training required and turned to CMLabs.

CMLabs’ long-standing success in providing physics simulation development toolkits and specialized engineering services was key to the OETIO selecting CMLabs’ Vortex-based solution. The heavy equipment training market now has access to high-fidelity, physically-realistic simulation at a price point that was not previously achievable.

Founded in 1982, the OETIO is an internationally recognized leader in heavy equipment operator training. The partnership with CMLabs has allowed the OETIO to train more efficiently and on a more cost-effective basis than previously possible.

CMLabs has welcomed Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) of Singapore as its latest Vortex client. DSTA, responsible for implementing defence technology plans, managing defence research and development, acquiring defence materiel and developing defence infrastructure under the Ministry of Defence, selected Vortex for high fidelity vehicle modelling. DSTA will also be building simulations with the aid of VxVehicle, an add on to Vortex which greatly accelerates the development of vehicle simulations. Their programme received a head start with a week of on on-site training delivered by CMLabs' vehicle simulation lead, Dr. Wei Huang.

Customer Feature

"Due to the development requirements of the project, we quickly focused on Vortex. It was easy to install and we were able to start developing right away". - Laurent Chodorge, CEA Project Engineer.

CEA/LIST, The Laboratory of Technologies and Systems Integration of the Atomic Energy Commission, selected Vortex for a project to design a remote operated system for the inspection of nuclear hot cells. A remotely operated robotic system can enable operators to clean and even dismantle nuclear installations, while limiting radiation doses and danger to personnel.

The challenge was to develop a robot arm carrier with accurate high level control. An operator requires precise control over the motion of the arm to accurately operate the system and perform a given task. Standard kinematic control methods are not suitable for operating the robotic arm, because they don't provide collision detection and dynamic avoidance of obstacles.

The solution was to use Vortex to perform collision and dynamics calculations. Vortex' powerful physics libraries provided collision and dynamics data about the virtual system, enabling the operator to generate trajectories in real time and properly manoeuvre the arm within the limited space. CEA took advantage of the rich set of joint and collision types in the design of the system, and used collision data to develop a mechanism that would provide the appropriate controls at high level supervision.

Using Vortex joint types, each section of the robotic arm is connected by a series of joints that allow for two degrees of freedom. A prismatic joint was added to the start of the arm, providing one additional degree of freedom, and is used to drive the motion of the arm into and out of the cell. The collision and dynamics data make it possible to generate a safe trajectory around the obstacles in the virtual scene. For a reliable simulator, there can be no margin of error between the 3D CAD simulation and the actual arm, CEA benefited from the accuracy of the Vortex solvers.