Recent Advances in Coal Mine Safety Training Based on Virtual Reality in China

Recent advances in coal mine safety training based on virtual reality in China are explored and reviewed according to the researches and papers in the last ten years, and the drawbacks in them are figured out, with some suggestions for further researches being given. A brief survey on the research contents is carried out with time as the clue in the first place, illustrating that more and more investigations and researches have been done over time. And then such issues as main research outlines, theories and algorithms, software and tools, and extent of achievement, are reviewed respectively. The drawbacks in these researches are that they are somewhat repetitive, too much contents and relatively superficial in one project, more geological modeling but less intelligent, lacking of high realistic and advanced system, and so on. We suggest that more attention should be paid to the following aspects: 1) More intelligent functions instead of just simple demonstrating and roaming; 2) studying and developing Coal Mine Safety Training Engine Based on Virtual Reality (CMSTEVR) by concentrating core strength, in order to reduce the large amount of elementary work such as geological modeling, etc; 3) Breaking through the real-time barrier of the accurate and complex calculations, and solving the integration and fusion issues between these kinds of calculations and VR software; 4) Developing Coal Mine Safety Training System by utilizing the most advanced and powerful Game Engine.