Maritime Virtual Reality Simulators

Morild Ship & Bridge Simulator

In 2013, Morild Interaktiv released the world’s first Virtual Reality (VR) ship & bridge simulator. The simulator is now a fully developed solution for training in navigation, ship handling, maneuvering and bridge resource management. Morild’s simulator is developed around DNV GL’s standard for Class A full mission simulator systems (DNVGL-ST-0033).

Morild Ship & Bridge is a full mission simulator system build for Virtual Reality (VR) Technology. An unlimited number of users can train together in the same scenario on the same -or different vessels. VR avatars enable the user to see and talk with other participants in the training scenario. Users and the instructor can be situated all around the world and train in the same scenario. Morild’s solution scales very well to large and complex scenarios with many users and vessels.

For the end user the main difference between a conventional -and Morild’s VR simulator is how the user interacts with handling equipment on the bridge. In the VR simulator everything is virtual, which offers new possibilities with regards to bridge equipment configurations and layouts being tailored to suit specific vessel types and propulsion system configurations. Morild’s state of the art VR interaction system ensures that the user experience is natural and that controls are easy to learn.

Morild’s experience developing conventional ship and bridge simulators over many years has given us experience and knowledge of our client’s requirements. This is a very important principle when developing a VR ship and bridge simulator system. We have made no compromises in achieving this, but rather taken advantage of the new possibilities available with VR technology. This has resulted in the next generation maritime training solution.

Morild Ship & Bridge is designed and built from scratch as a VR simulator system, which is vastly different to adding VR to a conventional simulator. We like to compare this to the automotive industry, where a superior EV platform also has to be designed and built from scratch, which is much more than just adding an electric motor to a petrol car.

Academic research

The Arctic University of Norway, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of South-Eastern Norway are using Morild VR Ship & Bridge in their research and studies.

Data from two comparative university studies shows that our VR ship & bridge simulator performs better than the most advanced conventional simulator systems available on the market today. These findings correspond with feedback from our users. The combination of these findings and the cost-effectiveness of our system results in the optimal solution in every aspect.

Our close relationship and cooperation with academia, maritime research institutions and industry ensures continuous progress and development.

Multi-user team training

Training cooperation between crew members on the bridge, and/or in complex operations with multiple vesels is one area where the advantages of our VR simulator system can be experienced. Participants in the training scenario can join from different locations. Another popular feature is remote instructor – where instructors can serve the entire world without leaving their offices. This enables our clients to use the ideal personnel for individual cases without exhausting their resources.

We have also developed advanced artificial intelligence (AI) agents which fills different roles on the bridge and vessel. This functionality enables individual users or incomplete teams to practice team training and complex operations in situations where they don’t have access to a full team.

Many of our clients’ personnel bring the VR simulator system home or on board their vessel, increasing training volume significantly. This is made possible by the compact design of our system and no requirement for internet connection in offline training. Everything you need fits in a backpack.

Screen capture from training session with 3 users on ship bridge (pilot, captain & helmsman) + users operating two tugboats.

Vessel configurator

Morild’s vessel configurator enables you to tailor base models from our vessel database to suit your requirements. Setup propulsion system and vessel characteristics, bridge equipment configuration and layout to match specific use cases.

This is possible due to the unique design of our hydrodynamics and propulsion modelling system, which is specifically designed for this functionality. Individual vessel models has been verified with sea trail data to ensure high accuracy and realistic behavior models. In addition we engage highly skilled and experienced seafarers from esteemed institutions for further verification, testing and feedback.

We offer a wide range of different base models and our database is continuously expanding with new vessel types. All existing and new vessel models in our database are included in license subscriptions.