Video Game Imaging Meets Nuclear Reality

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a team of artists, animators, nuclear engineers, and computer scientists is teaming up to provide 3D models of nuclear facilities to train International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards inspectors and others who need fast familiarity with specific nuclear sites.

Transcript

00:00:07 keeping tabs on nuclear materials worldwide requires hundreds of trained expert inspectors teaching those inspectors is a long-standing capability at los alamos national laboratory a key tool used to train them is 3d interactive virtual reality developed at los alamos letting inspectors go there before they go there

00:00:28 so we thought how do we put them there without putting them there so virtual reality 3d modeling was to me the obvious answer to succeed the models are made as realistic as possible and rely on innovations from the video game industry then it becomes a an interactive simulation a video game if you will

00:00:48 that i'm able to start to control this so in this case as we come across the cylinder it shows us the serial number it shows us the particular cylinders that we're supposed to be inspecting then as we walk up and we choose to inspect one we can click on it then we can choose what kinds of things we're supposed to do to this

00:01:06 to to this cylinder in virtual space inspectors can get a better handle on what to expect during a complex and sometimes contentious inspection you want them to be as mentally prepared for that environment as possible and virtual reality helps them cognitively prepare for those experiences

00:01:24 the video gaming interface and the virtual reality models that we've developed actually leverage from visual audible and kinetic interaction with the models and so it engages the human body in many senses and many vectors in that space so it's very natural and this idea can be used for much more than nuclear

00:01:49 inspections it's an approach that can be applied as a training tool for just about anything imaginable i'm nancy ambrosiano for lanl tv