PAULEY Blog - Recent Posts

Augmented and Virtual Reality are a key driver in delivering the Digital Railway

In December 2016, the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), Rail Supply Group (RSG), Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the Department for Transport (DfT) gathered the Rail Industry together to launch the Rail Sector Skills Delivery Plan.

The industry plan is to recruit 100,000 people into the rail industry to plug the skills gap and keep the country moving forward as demand for both passenger and rail freight shows no sign of slowing down. The Government have committed through their Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (TISS) their requirement to produce 30,000 new apprenticeships by 2020 of which 20,000 have …

12 Months before Christmas – A Year Driving Rail Innovation and Skills

As we move into December 2016 and start our strategic planning for next year, we take a pause to look back and review this year. Each year we like to see what innovations we have introduced and how we have helped our clients advance. By listening first and fully understanding the challenges and issues our clients face, we are then able to share our knowledge, experiences, thoughts and ideas with them. Then and only then can we come up with the digital solutions to solve those issues that we all face each and every day, to improve the lives of …

The VR/AR Boom Is Here: Join the Step Change

Every forward-thinking, ambitious organisation should be aiming to ride the crest of the technological wave. Yet too many are shying away from the seemingly daunting arena of virtual and augmented realities.

The reality is that not engaging with VR/AR now—just as the field starts to boom—could be an even bigger risk to your business strategy.

Join a booming market

After a long time in the making, the VR/AR market is currently at tipping point: Deloitte Global predicts that 2016 will be VR’s first billion-dollar year. Over at Goldman Sachs, they’re estimating the VR/AR market to grow to $80 billion …

VR Set to Collide With Pop Culture at London Film & Comic Con’s Inaugural VR Zone

As 2016 rolls on, virtual and augmented realities are increasingly hitting the spotlight. We’ll be showcasing the latest developments, connecting with early adopters and networking with the best developers from the UK and beyond at this July’s London Film & Comic Con by powering the event’s inaugural VR Zone.

What’s the big deal about virtual and augmented realities?

Virtual reality (VR) transports the user out of their everyday world and immerses them in a 360-degree environment. While VR headsets are generally more affordable and accessible at the moment, thanks to low cost headsets such as Google Cardboard and Gear VR, …

Traditional Learning Is Going Immersive, Virtual & Augmented

Schools and other teaching environments are still biased towards making learners listen, read and write in order to take in new information. But the reality is that few of us are inspired—or able—to learn from word-heavy PowerPoint slides or the sound of a lecturer’s voice. Immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), touchscreens, and 3D content can change how we learn for the better.

There are four main types of learners: auditory, visual, reading/writing, and kinaesthetic. Most of us are a mixture of these, but we each tend to have a preferred method of learning new things.…

Bridging the Rail Industry’s Skills Shortage with Innovation

There is a growing skills shortage across the UK within the various fields of engineering, science and manufacturing. Nowhere is this more evident than the rail industry. Cutting edge training technology using virtual and augmented reality can help to recruit new workers into the rail industry, get them up to speed rapidly and encourage them to remain within that organisation for the duration of their career.

The truth about the skills shortage

In NSARE’s Traction & Rolling Stock (T&RS) Skills Forecasting report 2015, issues such as an ageing workforce, low numbers of graduate workers and apprenticeships, and lack of gender diversity …

Blending Reality in Classrooms for the Benefit of All

Long gone are the days of rote learning around the blackboard with the teacher holding a half-broken piece of chalk. Classrooms have become more hi-tech, with interactive whiteboards now a standard centrepiece for group learning, and increasing numbers of teachers eager to experiment with the latest touchscreens and mobile devices. Could virtual reality (VR) be the next big thing?

VR training has already been widely adopted by commercial companies, games developers and the military. Even in the medical field, more devices and apps are catering to improving the skills of doctors and surgeons using both virtual and mixed reality.

Interest …

The Future of Mobile is Augmented

At the moment, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are focussed on industry and gaming applications, with the average consumer unlikely to start buying into the technology until 2017.

The rise of these technologies is unstoppable. AR market revenue is now forecast to reach $90 billion by 2020, eventually outcompeting VR, which is likely to reach $30 billion. At the moment, VR is more openly available and has emerging uses beyond videogames, in viewing films and sporting events.

Ultimately, we’re likely to see the two technologies merging into a new “mixed reality”. There’s huge opportunity for smartphone manufacturers …

PAULEY Takes Gold For Innovation at Learning Awards 2016

At PAULEY, we’re delighted to have won the highly coveted gold award for Innovation in Learning along with the National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR) at the prestigious Learning Awards 2016 run by the Learning and Performance Institute.

The Learning Awards—held on February 4^th at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane—celebrated and honoured the best of the best in the learning and development industry. Recognised as the L&D sector’s premier awards ceremony, this year saw a record 400 entries from all over the world. Now in their 20^th year, the Awards are judged by an independent panel of …

How Will Nanotechnology Drive the Future of Transportation?

Nanotechnology is the use and engineering of materials at the nanoscale. Well below the microscale, this is the molecular world, where the things we’re talking about are just a billionth of a metre across. Things behave very differently here and that’s giving engineers lots of new ideas and abilities.

Nanotechnology isn’t anything new. But what is newly emerging is that we’re starting to become capable of engineering these “super materials” to our exact specifications and produce them on a larger, more industrial scale.

Graphene, for example, is a carbon sheet the thickness of a single atom. Yet, it is stronger …