Recently, CH2M was presented with a challenge from a strategic global client: “Show us something completely new and innovative in engineering design and delivery.” In response, CH2M has developed a highly effective approach for leveraging affordable and readily-available virtual reality (VR) viewers and the latest VR hardware as it hits the market.
As part of this approach, the firm created a CH2M VR Design Review Kit, a fully-contained design review tool that allows clients to participate in collaborative, multi-user reviews to envision project developments CH2M can deliver. These kits are contained in a fitted hard case that holds smartphones, VR headsets, and Bluetooth controllers.
“By just turning on a phone, starting up the model, and inserting the phone into the headset, team members are automatically connected to a secure control server that allows them to see each other and anyone else who is in the model whether on a PC, an Oculus Rift headset, or another smartphone,” said Mitchell Hamm, CH2M engineering manager.
CH2M’s innovative use of VR technology has markedly reduced the cost and duration of design review cycles, which can now economically take place every few days versus a period of months. In only a few hours, the CH2M approach can prepare a 3D VR model to view on smartphones and computers. In addition to vastly improved convenience, this approach has improved the quality of the design process and has made changes easier and quicker to make in the design process.
CH2M VR Review Kits are currently being used to support CH2M projects in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. “Our clients have responded very enthusiastically to this new revolution in design-sharing technology,” said Michael Glenn, senior vice president, CH2M Global Client Solutions. “But these tools are about much more than creating a ‘wow factor.’ It’s about creating a better collaborative experience and a better overall project outcome for everyone involved – clients, designers, and contractors.”