Page 6 - HIWT Winter 2013 World of Welding
P. 6
THE WORLD OF WELDING http://www.welding.org
FROm PEGBOARDS TO SImULATORS TO VIRTUAL REALITY WELDING
(Continued from page 5)
Several entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to design and sell
weld simulators for welder aptitude testing and possibly
training. Many products have not survived. With the vast
advances made in electronics, sensors, computers, neural
networks and software, virtual reality for welding applications
has become a reality and a few systems with varying features
are available on the market today.
How well they may help the student mastering the hot,
molten puddle depends on processes and applications and
the individual students. The various organizations and
manufacturing companies that train welders may have
different needs and they should carefully evaluate, as with
any capital project, investment cost, ongoing cost and benefits
gained.
Fig. 4. Modern, full virtual welding system
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