Speaker
Description
The need for safe, efficient and standardized training methods has promoted the use of virtual reality simulators as an alternative tool to conventional training, especially in high-risk operational industries. These simulators allow technical skills to be developed while reducing operating costs, physical and environmental risks, and machinery wear, and facilitate the controlled and safe repetition of tasks. In this study, the evaluation of the learning process and the acquisition of technical skills were analyzed through individual and group learning curves, with execution time as the main performance indicator for skill acquisition. Ten trainees with no previous experience in forestry machinery voluntarily participated in basic scenarios on a Komatsu simulator for harvesters (gripping and felling) and forwarders (loading and unloading). The aim was to develop basic operational skills, promote familiarization and adaptation, and teach control commands. The training consisted of a total of ten repetitions per trainee distributed across the six scenarios of varying complexity and duration. Exponential learning models were used to model the performance evolution, as they best fitted to the data, demonstrating that completion time-based learning was non-linear. The results showed a rapid and steep initial improvement followed by a phase of deceleration and progressive stabilization. Scenarios with greater complexity or those with longer execution times presented curves with slower stabilization and greater interindividual variability, suggesting grater cognitive and psychomotor demands, while scenarios with shorter execution times showed faster adaptation with less dispersion. All six scenarios showed a common pattern of individual and group learning with a progressive decrease in time through practice repetitions. These findings support the integration of virtual reality technologies, especially simulators, into training programs and the use of learning curves as a tool to evaluate performance improvements.
| Keywords | "Virtualreality; simulator; learningcurves; training" |
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