Knowledge-Based Management of Virtual Training Scenarios

Abstract Virtual reality (VR) gains increasing attention as a method of implementing training systems in different domains, in particular, when real training is potentially dangerous for the trainees or the environment, or requires expensive equipment. The essential element of professional training is domain-specific knowledge, which can be represented using the semantic web approach. It enables reasoning as well as complex queries against the representation of training scenarios, which can be valuable for teaching purposes. However, the available methods and tools for creating VR training systems do not use semantic knowledge representation. Currently, the creation, modification, and management of training scenarios require skills in programming and computer graphics. Hence, they are unavailable to domain experts without expertise in IT. In this paper, we propose an ontology-based representation and a method of modeling VR training scenarios. In our approach, trainees’ activities, potential mistakes as well as equipment and its possible errors are represented using domain knowledge understandable to domain experts. We illustrate the approach by modeling VR training scenarios for electrical operators of high-voltage installations.