In this issue

The Vortex team recently delivered an operator training simulator to the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario. The state-of-the-art concrete-pump simulator features a three-metre-dome display and is modelled after a Schwing 32X.

Vortex technology provides realistic, real-time, interactive 3D representation of vehicles in contact with terrain and other objects. Vortex allows the creation of simulated environments with the high degree of realism required for operator training.

The operator can stand in the middle of the dome and use hand and leg controls to conduct simulated pouring and other exercises in the virtual environment. "The simulator will enable apprentices to get a feel for operating these machines in a safe and controlled environment." said Mike Gallagher, business manager of Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Also included in this delivery is a second 2.2m dome configuration of the same simulator.

The new Vortex Academic Program has attracted a great deal of interest since being launched a few months ago. The academic community has been a large part of Vortex's success and the academic program is enabling more academics to benefit from Vortex.

Two of the recent organizations to acquire Vortex are the University of Victoria in Canada and Pukyong National University in South Korea. The University of Victoria is implementing Vortex in a haptics project while PNU is using Vortex in container crane simulation research.

Click here for more information on the Vortex Academic Program or contact the Academic Program Manager at +1-514-287-1166 x223 or email academic@vxsim.com

The latest release of Vortex for Vega Prime was recently announced. Vortex 4.0 is now available and supports Vega Prime versions 2.2 and 2.1, the industry-leading tool for creating visual simulations. The resulting Vortex for Vega Prime serves to enhance Vega Prime applications that require high fidelity simulation of land vehicles, heavy equipment or robots.

Presagis customers can also contact Presagis directly for upgrade information or technical support.

Robotics is one of the fastest areas of growth for Vortex, since Vortex provides the ideal toolkit for high-fidelity real-time simulation of mobility platforms, manipulators, sensors and more. It can be integrated with engineering development tools such as MATLAB/Simulink to integrate control-software with the virtual robot. Vortex can simulate a wide variety of mobility platforms: from tracked-vehicles to walking, crawling and other methods of locomotion.

VxSensors: Robots and vehicles can now support sensor models using the VxSensors library for ray-cast based sonar, radar and laser systems. VxSensors provided the ability to model virtual sensors in a simulated environment. The virtual sensor output can drive autonomous control systems built into the robot simulation.

VxGrasp: The VxGrasp function is a utility that computes the grasp quality for a collection of contacts between a grabbing device and target objects. This provides an easy and effective method to model robotic manipulator or hand grasping and other applications such as grappling claws on heavy equipment.

To find out more about using Vortex for robotics applications click here.