Mine Safe’s Collision Avoidance VR Simulation
Explaining a collision avoidance system to a global mining audience is one thing. Putting them in the driver’s seat of a VR open-pit mine is another. This is how Mine Safe made their mark at MINExpo 2024.
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CLIENT CONTEXT
World-class technology. The challenge of making a room full of sceptics feel it.
Mine Safe Global builds collision avoidance systems for high-risk mining environments. Their CAS technology, developed in South Africa, monitors proximity, adjusts speed dynamically, restricts access to danger zones, and responds in real time to prevent accidents. In an open-pit mine, it is the difference between a near-miss and a catastrophe.
The technology speaks for itself in the field. The problem was making it speak for itself at MINExpo 2024, one of the largest mining industry exhibitions in the world, held in Las Vegas, where every vendor is competing for the same finite attention span.
How do you demonstrate a safety system that only becomes visible when something almost goes wrong?
Mine Safe needed an experience that could communicate technical complexity to a global audience, including engineers, procurement leads, and operations managers, without requiring them to read a brochure or sit through a product demo. The experience had to be immediate, physical, and memorable.
THE CHALLENGE
Three hard problems standing between great technology and a great demonstration.
Realm identified three distinct problems that each needed to be solved, and that compounded each other if any one of them was handled poorly.
On top of this, Mine Safe had an additional objective: to demonstrate that South African technology is globally competitive. This was not just a product showcase. It was a proof point for an entire industry’s capability on a world stage.
REALM’S APPROACH
Don’t explain the system. Put people inside it.
The insight that shaped everything: no amount of explanation would make someone understand what it feels like to be driving a 100-tonne haul truck when the collision avoidance system kicks in. But 90 seconds in a VR cab would.
Realm developed a full VR driving simulation, built in Unity with environments modelled in Blender, placing users in the driver’s seat of a heavy vehicle navigating a realistic open-pit mine. Every key CAS function was woven into the experience as a live scenario, not a narrated feature list.
What the simulation demonstrated
- Speed limitations activating automatically as the vehicle approached defined zones
- Proximity detection triggering real-time warnings for oncoming and stationary vehicles
- Dynamic follow distance adjusting based on speed and terrain conditions
- No-go zone enforcement restricting vehicle movement into restricted areas
- Crawl mode enabling safe navigation out of triggered zones
- Reverse camera feeds integrated into the driving interface for full situational awareness
The physical rig, built with EG Evolved
The VR headset alone was not enough. Realm collaborated with EG Evolved to build a custom driving rig that made the experience viscerally real: a steering wheel, pedals, and real-time force feedback that let users feel the resistance and movement of the vehicle responding to the system.
Why force feedback changed everything
When a user physically feels the vehicle slow as the CAS engages, rather than just seeing it happen on screen, the system stops being a feature demo and becomes a lived moment. That shift from watching to experiencing is what drives genuine comprehension and recall.
Drawing in the crowd
A large external monitor displayed the simulation in real time to passersby, turning every active user into a live advertisement for the booth. The exhibit became a spectacle, not just a stand.
Guided UI overlays inside the simulation ensured that even first-time users understood what they were experiencing without needing a human guide at every moment.
THE OUTCOME
Mine Safe stood out at MINExpo. And left with something more valuable than attention.
The simulation drew consistent crowds throughout MINExpo 2024. In a venue where most exhibitors competed for passive attention, Mine Safe’s booth demanded active participation. Industry professionals, including engineers and operations managers who evaluate safety systems for a living, queued to experience the CAS firsthand.
What Mine Safe walked away with
- Measurably stronger brand presence at one of the sector’s biggest global events
- A demonstration format that made complex safety technology immediately accessible to non-technical buyers
- Proof that South African-developed technology can compete and stand out in a global marketplace
- A reusable platform: the VR simulation lays the foundation for immersive safety training deployments across mine sites globally
“The VR simulator forms a foundation for Mine Safe to build immersive training and safety initiatives in the mine and other sectors, both in South Africa and globally.”
– Marius De Meyer, Operations Manager, Mine Safe Global
That last point matters. The simulator was not built as a one-use exhibition asset. Its architecture supports expansion into full training programmes, giving Mine Safe a scalable platform for onboarding operators, running safety drills, and building sector-specific variants without starting from scratch.
WHAT THIS TELLS YOU ABOUT HOW WE WORK
The brief was a trade show demo. The answer was an experience platform.
Realm could have produced a polished screen-based presentation or an animated explainer video. Both would have been easier and cheaper. Neither would have created the same impact, or the same downstream value.
The decision to build a fully immersive, physically interactive simulation, and to make it reusable as a training foundation, came from asking the right question upfront. Not “what does Mine Safe need for MINExpo?” but “what does Mine Safe need people to understand about their technology, and what is the best way to make that happen?”
