Welder with a VR headset
Kragujevac: Students of the Secondary Vocational School in Kragujevac, who are studying to become locksmiths/welders, were the first to be given opportunity to use a virtual (VR) headset to learn more about the profession of a welder.
“It was useful and very interesting for them. This entire activity takes place with a lot of laughter, communication, and the students learn about the profession of a welder in a really interesting way” Ikonija Golić from the Kragujevac Job Info Centre, where the use of a VR headset was organised within the “Education to Employment” programme, said.
Commendations and encouragements
This was an interesting and a very useful experience for student Ognjen Bogićević.
“I did quite well. It looks really interesting. I took the device in my hands for the first time ever and for the first time ever I entered a production plant. All this in virtual reality, of course. All of it happened for the very first time for me. It is a very useful experience. I decided to get involved in welding. I know that one needs a steady hand and patience for this craft. A mentor in the virtual production plant, while I was welding, gave me a suggestion: do it more slowly. I will certainly do as suggested once I do the welding”, Ognjen Bogićević, student in the first year of the Secondary Vocational School in which he studies to become a locksmith/welder, said.
Luka Krstić, also a student, said that he chose the school for locksmiths/welders because this profession has good prospects and is well-paid. He said that he has a natural aptitude to become a welder and had only words of praise for the VR headset – he said that it is marvellous.
“When you put the headset on, first thing you see is a robot explaining to you what you need to do. Then you see a mentor who tells you and shows you how to weld a piece. In the end, after a short training, I try to make a welding using the welding appliance. The mentor watches over me, evaluates whether I do everything correctly and whether I can go on with it”, Luka told us. He has had opportunity to weld in real life too, considering that his father is involved in the same craft.
“It was really interesting because you are able to see how the welding is made in practice and what items we need to ensure occupational health and safety. When I approached the appliance in virtual reality, everything was just like in reality – quite the same, quite a realistic presentation”, student in the first year of the Secondary Vocational School Novak Dimitrijević described us his experience.
His classmate Stefan Tasić said that he did not feel nervous about using the VR headset and that he is happy with what he learnt.
“It is very interesting. I had opportunity to try and weld in the virtual world and it was a really pleasant experience. I managed quite well. Everything that I have learnt in school I have now seen in the virtual production plant. Well, it was somewhat weird as well – a large hall, a large machine, a mask …” student Živko Đorđević shared his impressions with us.
In the end, all students who have used VR headset received an encouraging computer-generated message: “Well done indeed”!
Impressions of the teachers conducting practical training
“In cooperation with the school-team for career counselling and guidance and the Development Business Centre, we bring the students in the first, second, and third year of the Secondary Vocational School to see the virtual world of welding”, master mechanical engineer Miroslav Petrović, the Secondary Vocational School (SSS) teacher who conducts practical training for the students who are to become locksmiths/welders, shared his impressions with us.
He said that, about 20 students in the first, second, and third year of the SSS have experienced virtual reality since the beginning of school-year.
“For me too, this was my first encounter with virtual reality in this way, in connection with the realm of labour and a profession. This is really useful for the students in the first year of school considering that they have never had any contact with welding in reality. Some of them did have this experience, but most never did. Therefore, this can be looked at as a kind of first work experience”, Miroslav said.
He added that VR headset is a really useful thing for those who never did welding before, as well as for those who already have some practical experience. The latter said that some parts of the process are even harder in virtual reality than in real world.
“Mentor’s instructions are really shown very realistically; the environment is realistic too, as is the occupational health and safety and everything else that is necessary – all is quite realistically shown in the virtual world,” teacher Miroslav said after he, too, had the VR headset on for the first time ever.
Text and photo: Gordana Mirović / Edited by: Sandra Vlatković
