The Challenge
Suppose you’re working on a machine with the latent power of an army helicopter engine. The machine weighs 432,000 pounds and costs well over $1 mil. Even if that device were switched off (Lock Out, Tag Out), it’s better to train before putting your hands on it and going to work. Better yet, what if the trainee could accurately be evaluated for performance, safety protocol and even proper application of fine-motor pressure (down to 1/100ths of ft-lbs of torque) when tightening a bolt (thanks to haptic gloves)? And all of that before they step into the workforce.
That machine is the GEVO Tier 4 Diesel Locomotive Traction Motor. And the people who maintain and repair these engines must have the very best training possible. Roundtable Learning did just that by leveraging digital-age, smart-textile HaptX gloves and VR training. We teamed up with BNSF Railway, who’ve pioneered a commitment to safety and whose rail enterprise has operated inside of three centuries.
FOR BNSF, THE KEY CHALLENGES WERE TO CREATE A SAFE BUT REALISTIC JOB TRAINING WITH TACTILE FEEDBACK–USING HAPTIC GLOVES IF NEEDED–AND EASILY-UNDERSTOOD, AUTOMATED LEARNER PERFORMANCE METRICS.
In addition to practical, tool-in-hand training, BNSF also had to solve a universal time-consuming practice that every workforce deals with: determining, measuring, ranking, recording and evaluating trainee performance (and then providing feedback). Through Roundtable’s Mercury XRS metrics suite, we helped with that, too.
Client’s Concerns and Pain Points:
Ensuring compliance with critical procedures like lock-out tag-out (LOTO) to create a secure training environment.
Delivering immersive, interactive training that mirrors real job tasks, preparing learners for on-the-job success.
Combining high-fidelity visuals with kinetic-sensory feedback, including tactile interactions, for hands-on learning.
Automating the capture, analysis, and organization of learner training metrics for continuous improvement.
Identifying strengths and areas for growth to tailor individualized improvement plans.
Enhancing muscle memory through lifelike, interactive scenarios that reinforce procedural knowledge.
Leveraging haptic gloves to create impactful, hands-on learning experiences that stick.
"BNSF took the initiative to think outside the box by providing their employees with a new training strategy to further practice identifying and mitigating exposures to risk. Not only has this created a new way of learning/training at BNSF, but these technologies can also help create safer behaviors within the rail industry as a whole."
- Jeff Suchan, Roundtable Learning
Roundtable's Solution
COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY, IMMERSIVE VR AND HAPTIC GLOVES
Roundtable and BNSF knew creating the solution would be demanding. There were the safety requirements, a complexity and layered nature to the tasks, plus it had to have quality automated reporting of learner performance metrics. Integrating smart-textile HaptX gloves was a bold move, enhancing realism and hands-on engagement in training.
The content itself dealt mainly with two elements:
- Diagnostics of the train engine components
- Replacements of those components if needed.
To accomplish this, Roundtable visited on-site but, more importantly, worked extensively throughout the design process with BNSF’s experienced mechanics.
Tools, Instrumentation and Haptic Gloves
One of the chief tasks in creating this training was to understand and model the complex instruments needed: ECAM, IGBT, DMM, water pressure sensor and water temperature sensor. That’s all in addition to various other tools (keep in mind that some locomotive tools are three feet long and weigh 8 lbs). By precisely calculating dimensions and behaviors for tools and diagnostic instruments, Roundtable’s XR Design & Development team produced accurate representations both visually and in tactile feedback through haptic gloves.
Numerous Features, All of them Useful and Task-Oriented
Beyond the hands-on immersion of the training, several enhanced features elevate the experience—many of which still leverage the groundbreaking HaptX gloves. These include intuitive manual navigation with virtual buttons and selection tools, instructional text windows, a virtual calculator, and more. The experience is further enriched with professional human-voiced audio guidance, ensuring clarity and engagement throughout.
Virtual practice using tools ranging from digital multimeters to simple crank ratchets
HaptX gloves providing feedback on-screen for tactile pressure down to hundredths of ft-lbs of torque
Acts as a comprehensive dual-solution for training and evaluation with automated XR metrics and data outputs
Multi-sensory engagement that helps build essential skills through real-time, fine-motor interactions
The VR training program focuses on critical procedures such as:
- Fuel injector removal and installation
- Fuel pump removal and installation
- Proper, manually-attenuated tensioning and detensioning
Key Learning Objectives
- Safely, efficiently and correctly performing various maintenance tasks on the engine
- Replacing components
- Testing and calibrating those components
- A double-down on safety with an emphasis on Lock Out, Tag Out of the engine
- Creating tangible, sensory impressions and memory of the large and small physical movements required to properly complete processes
The Results
Roundtable’s solution and BNSF’s investment allow the company to evaluate at least 48 mechanics daily
BNSF virtually eliminated the need for the on-site presence of a million-dollar-plus engine until the finalist trainees mastered the virtual suite. There are no travel expenses for the company to foot or the trainees to pay upfront (expenses which can easily run over $500 with airfare and one night at a hotel). This, of course, resulted in tremendous net cost savings as more engines are out there on the tracks, profitably powering more trains with more cargo across the nation.
Multi-sensory VR training, especially with haptic gloves, is the vanguard of job training. This immersive and tactile focus is especially true as the revival of industrial and trade professions–a heavy emphasis on manual labor–continues. Roundtable Learning + BNSF’s engaging solution to complex mechanical processes was featured in Yahoo Finance. HaptX themselves have featured Roundtable Learning’s BNSF training in their own use case literature.
Haptic Gloves and VR Training: Roundtable, HaptX and BNSF Full-Steam Ahead
As the practical and economic benefits stack up–lower or eliminated travel costs for trainees, little or no downtime for the equipment being trained on–BNSF is already looking to scale.
The magnitude of Roundtable’s delivered product is such that BNSF is joining efforts to expand XR training use throughout the railway industry.
BNSF Locomotive Engineer Christopher Skinner on company’s future plans with virtual training:
“The dream is that we have a large library spanning across various departments and crafts.”
However, BNSF’s training program delivered on much more than the creative use of innovative technology. Roundtable’s strength and success come from an uncompromising focus on learning, which has produced numerous awards for our various workforce skills trainings. This training program with integration of HaptX Gloves G1, the multi-faceted presentation and overall immersive yet effective interactivity, won a medal in the 2024 Brandon Hall Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology.
VR Training on Trains with Haptic Gloves and Headsets: In Their Own Words
But, above all, those in the shop like it. “You can literally practice these processes dozens of times inside this virtual reality environment until you’re familiar and comfortable with them,” says BNSF Locomotive Mechanical Engineer Christopher Skinner. “And then you can go and safely implement them in real life.”
BNSF & Roundtable Learning Summarized Findings
- The integration of HaptX Gloves G1 into Roundtable Learning's training program allowed for a highly immersive and interactive experience, enabling trainees to practice complex mechanical processes in a virtual reality environment.
- BNSF was able to virtually eliminate the need for on-site presence of expensive equipment, such as million-dollar-plus engines, until trainees had mastered the virtual training suite, resulting in significant cost savings.
- The training program won a medal in the 2024 Brandon Hall Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology, recognizing Roundtable's strength and success in delivering effective workforce skills trainings.
- With Roundtable's solution, BNSF can evaluate at least 48 mechanics daily, with the potential for multiple users to train simultaneously, increasing training efficiency and reducing downtime.
- The success of the project has led to BNSF joining efforts to expand XR training use throughout the railway industry, with plans to develop a large library of VR training content spanning various departments and crafts.
Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology
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