ITER is a scientific experiment with the main goal to prove that it is possible to produce energy from nuclear fusion on a commercial basis. The problem is that parts of the reactor become too hot for human manual maintenance. The challenge of this project is therefore to execute this maintenance by remote handling with well-developed procedures.
These procedures should consist of using good visual and haptic feedback, while also possessing advanced manipulators to create a good transparent monitoring of the maintenance. The problem that arises is that it is too expensive to make full-scale hardware mock-ups for testing. These models would become out-dated after each modification to the design, which could lead to a financial disaster for the project.
Therefore, the decision has been made to develop an interactive simulation environment in which it is possible to develop, test and validate the procedures with the help of virtual reality. This environment also features a maintenance simulator that provides realistic force feedback to the users of the virtual haptic master arm that will execute the task of maintenance.
HIT (Heemskerk Innovative Technology)
