*This is a machine-translated text of the original article.

On March 19, Rikei Corporation announced that it had concluded a contract for joint research and development of VR (Virtual Reality) systems through industry-academia-government collaboration.

The research and development will be carried out in cooperation with the University of Tokyo Virtual Reality Educational Research Center, Tokyo University of Science, and Yokohama City Fire Bureau.

In the nationwide fire brigade, while the number of veteran fire brigade members with knowledge and experience has been decreasing, and the ratio of fire brigade members with little experience is rapidly increasing.

On the other hand, the number of fires decreases by 6% to 8% each year, and it is becoming difficult for fire fighters to gain experience on the scene of the fire.

Using the newly developed VR fire fighting education and training system, experience will be gained in an environment as close to the actual site as possible to prevent casualties and injuries, and the quality of fire fighting activities will be improved.

In this system, the fire is reproduced by actually burning the building room, and the distribution of heat based on the temperature, movement of smoke, behavior of flame, etc. are measured.

Thus, while accurately grasping the fire phenomenon that evolves over time, it will be reproduced including the interaction with fire extinguishing activities.

In addition, since the fire brigade will act in teams in actual disasters, a system will be constructed so that activities can be carried out on a team basis while maintaining the perspectives of each individual unit.

This makes it possible to check points of reflection after training by recording the data of activities of multiple people in the VR space, and learn from veteran members with extensive experience.

In addition, in the activities of fire brigade at the fire site, it is said that simulation will be conducted using sensory reproduction devices (devices that can obtain the same senses as in practice), for sensory information actually used for judgment and action.

They will extract the knack of situation judgment and non-verbal know-how obtained through sensory information, and will also study the effects from psychological and medical viewpoints.

Based on the results of this development, the company aims to implement technology development and social implementation that will lead to further decrease in accidents and number of persons killed in the line of duty through further collaboration among industry, academia, and government, while reproducing diverse workplace environments and incorporating cutting-edge factors such as haptics.

Original Text: https://ampmedia.jp/2020/03/19/rikei/