Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is piloting an augmented reality tool at its Vegetation Management Assessment Yard in Oroville, California. The tool gives a new way to evaluate vegetation management inspectors before they head out into the field, using headset-based simulations of real-world scenarios to test their skills.
The simulations were developed in partnership with Mosaic and run on off-the-shelf headsets with Mosaic's EndeaVR platform. Wearers keep sight of the yard around them while the headset adds objects PG&E has placed, such as a tree, a powerline, a propane tank or a house. Inspectors can walk around, use virtual binoculars and a sounding hammer, and make the same kinds of judgments they would in the field.
How it supports assessment
PG&E's Nick Matheson, director of safety and assessments, says the yard has limits because the company does not go to every region. The AR approach lets it bring trees from across its territory into the one yard. The platform also captures and tracks user performance and generates measurable insights, and the data can be securely downloaded to a PG&E database for analysis, feedback and improvement.
What comes next
The tool is a pilot. Matheson says that if it works well and continues to show value, it could be used in other lines of business for training or verification. That wider use is conditional and has not been decided.
