Stimulator -based wheel loader training

Company has released a new line of technological solutions that provide an affordable way for fleet owners to integrate simulation into their operator training for the first time, or fill established classrooms with proven technology. With construction equipment manufacturers developing intelligent new technologies at a rapid pace, Montreal-based CM Labs is also incorporating tandem offerings into its simulators.

The new Wheel Loader Simulator Training Pack introduces guided learning in the form of real-time feedback during exercises, conveying crucial metrics such as distance from objects, traction, and terrain height. It also integrates the industry’s only real-time grade quality sensor, which tracks height, slope and standard deviation. Such feedback allows trainees to make the adjustments needed in order to advance their learning more quickly, and ultimately develop positive habits that will carry over to real equipment.

The Wheel Loader Pack incorporates the most advanced soil simulation available on the market, CM programmers contend, resulting in highly realistic bucket/ground interactions critical for training operators how to position the bucket properly and understand the machine’s capacity. Through accurate material simulation, the pack can teach trainees advanced handling techniques while focusing on efficiency and safety. For example, they can learn how to ensure that the dump truck’s driving path is even and clear of any obstacles that might cause it to tip.

The training pack immerses users in a challenging environment that encourages them to change tools depending on the task they need to accomplish. This means they must learn the proper usage of the wheel loader’s quick coupler and avoid accidental release of the bucket during operations.

The pack tracks all operating metrics during training exercises, and rolls them up into a single score that updates in real time. Fleet and equipment owners can customize scoring to take their most important operating criteria into consideration. This in turn gives instructors a benchmark for objectively assessing operators after every training session.

Further, a new CM Labs training solution allows operators to work collaboratively: While one trainee operates an excavator, a second controls an articulated dump truck within the same virtual environment. This solution enables training specialists to provide rapid skills development opportunities to novices, as well as building crucial teamwork skills in a safe environment. — CM Labs Simulations, Montreal; www.cm-labs.com