Assignment 3 – ‘Wet’ Hyperbaric Welding

Jake Wilkinson

Introduction

The purpose of this application is to help training and acclimatise welder-divers with some of the dangers that they will face in their job. There are many risks that can come from doing this kind of work, namely electric shocks, explosions, decompression sickness, drowning and freezing (Water Welders, 2023). This application should be a proof of concept as to how a VR application might be used in training.

Description

This application aims to be a method of exposing a welder-diver to the risk, feelings and sounds of the job whilst remaining in a safe environment which can be monitored and moderated by more experienced workers. As this job takes place in a 3D environment that is hazardous enough to be in without engaging in any work activities it is essential that trainees are not exposed to unacceptable levels of risk. It has been shown that this is an effective way to accomplish this with other similar risk categories such as decision making under stress and spatial awareness (Tichon & Burgess-Limerick, 2011).

The main problem that exists with other methods of training is that they are either dangerous, disjointed or non-immersive; training welders and their general safety are still being improved (Ersoy, 2020) and VR may be one solution to this. It makes sense that this may be a solution it is a job that requires two articulate hands, spatial awareness and knowledge of interacting 3D geometries. No other HCI can accommodate these requirements better then VR. Examples of other people using VR for the same purpose can be found (Janssen, et al., 2021).

Interactions

The main interaction that is being used in this case is their general awareness of the situation and developing the trainees percepto-motor skills (Tichon & Burgess-Limerick, 2011) as that is what is really being tested and trained. This is accomplished several smaller interactions that have to complete all at the same time. These include welding, but not just welding following safe hyperbaric welding procedures such as going from top to bottom, taking longer than dry air welding and many more considerations (Wang, et al., 2009). Listening out for threats such as bubbles popping, this indicates that a build up of gas may be forming, the mix of gasses are oxygen and hydrogen, this can cause an underwater explosion (Water Welders, 2023). As this application was further developed others may be added as well, such as making sure that a grounding wire is always attached, the PPE being worn is up to specifications and worn correctly and, watching out for marine life and what to do in emergency situations. The aim of all these measurers is to show the diver the hazards that will be faced, how to deal with them and the amount of attention that is needed to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Technical Development

This program was created using the built in Oculus VR tools in Unity. It was run on a Quest Pro but did not utilise any features such as eye tracking or hand tracking making compatible with most VR headsets. You engage with the environment with your hands, movement is not propulsion based rather you can use the joysticks to move and orient yourself in the application. When you begin to weld the tear in the steel the red dots will turn red to indicate that they have been welded. Occasionally when a dot is welded it will cause bubble sounds to activate that are different from the ambient sounds of the world. The player then needs to rapidly press the ‘Bubble Build Up’ button to indicate that they would have stopped work immediately and taken additional safety protocols. If the player presses the wrong button or has not fully met the conditions to push that button, it is counted as a failure. A Unity terrain wasn’t used for the sea bed as it did not build to the headset.

Assets

• A pipe as a build block for the scenario as to why they are performing hyperbaric welding. Self-made. 

• A welding electrode to hold in the right hand to act as the pointer and to simulate the weld with. Self-made. 

• Diving sound effects, to help simulate the environment and to mask the obviousness of the gas bubble scenario (Sound effects, 2022). 

• Bubble sound effects, for the gas build up scenario (Bryant, 2022). 

• A sphere with inverted normals, this was used to create the underwater effect as Unity only renders one side of the surface. Self-made. 

References

Bryant, K., 2022. Bubbles Sound Effect. [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 23 September 2023].

Ersoy, E., 2020. Recent Trends And Devolopment Of. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND APPLICATION, iv(1), pp. 36-44.

Guerrera, G., 2019. Free sample materials. [Online] Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/free-sample-material... [Accessed 23 September 2023].

Janssen, J. et al., 2021. Deep Sea VR - Underwater Welding Training Module. [Online] Available at: https://josephjanssen.artstation.com/projects/5XxB3z [Accessed 8 September 2023].

Nobiax & Yughes, 2015. Yughues Free Sand Materials. [Online] Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/floors/yughues-free-... [Accessed 23 September 2023].

Sound effects, 2022. Sea diving sound effect. [Online] Available at:

[Accessed 23 September 2023].

Tichon, J. & Burgess-Limerick, R., 2011. A Review of Virtual Reality as a Medium. Journal Of Health & Safety Research & Practice, 3(1), pp. 33-40.

Wang, Y. et al., 2009. Study on underwater wet arc welding training with haptic device. Hong Kong, IEEE.

Water Welders, 2023. 6 Shocking Underwater Welding Dangers & Powerful Safety Solutions. [Online] Available at: https://waterwelders.com/underwatier-welding-dangers-safety/ [Accessed 6 September 2023].