Today’s video games are designed to keep a player’s attention while maintaining an enjoyable level of challenge. Studies have discovered patterns of behaviors or “deliberate practices” that are predictive of a skilled performance in activities like sports or music. It’s how people get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. Video games provide that full concentration and engagement necessary to refine—through repetition and problem-solving—the skills to tackle a tricky puzzle or rescue the fair princess.

The design and application of gaming systems for use in highly technical training has increased significantly over the years. From piloting a plane to performing surgery, simulations have provided specialists with a variety of real-world challenges to train for in a short span of time.

The beauty of both video games and simulations is that a quick hit on the reset button can set a digital world gone sideways back to upright before starting over. This is a luxury not available in the real world, especially when working offshore when the margin for error is slim to none.

To enhance its crane operator training program and the safe, efficient implementation of the heavy-lift operations that it is known for, Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) recently announced that it selected Kongsberg Maritime’s K-Sim Offshore simulation platform. Delivery of what will become the world's most advanced offshore heavy-lift crane simulator is planned for September 2015, according to a Kongsberg Maritime-issued release.

As a specialist in transporting, installing and removing offshore facilities, HMC required a simulation system that could “train the most competent crane operators and conduct detailed pre-mission training for heavy-lift projects,” the release said. Kongsberg will develop a unique simulator based on its K-Sim Offshore platform, which is already in use at several high-profile offshore training facilities worldwide, the release said.

“In addition to the technical capabilities of the K-Sim Offshore Simulator, especially including its high-level hydrodynamics, it was important to find a simulator supplier that we could work closely with on such an extensive project,” said Catina Geselschap, project manager at the HMC Academy, in the release.

“Kongsberg Maritime demonstrates not only the technical competence to deliver such a complex and sophisticated simulator but also an open approach that encouraged dialogue and a willingness to find a solution working in close cooperation with Heerema.”

The simulation platform is set to include two offshore crane operator domes and a DNV Class A bridge with K-Sim DP simulator, which is based on the same Kongsberg Maritime K-Pos DP systems used on Heerema’s vessels. To achieve highly realistic training, the K-Sim Offshore simulator will feature detailed models of three HMC deepwater construction vessels, the Thialf, the Balder and the Aegir, in addition to several barges and a supply vessel. A library of objects and models of offshore installations and equipment used for specific heavy-lift projects also is being developed.

For those gamers that grew up to be crane operators, the skills they learned on the couch long ago will be stretched greatly to ensure a safe lift because there is no reset button in the game of life.

Offshore