I may write for a collision repair magazine, but I am no collision repairer. Close to my one-year anniversary, an opportunity arose. At the SEMA Show, I-CAR had a booth where you could have a virtual reality (VR) experience to do actual repair.
The VR allows technicians to practice hands-on techniques in a risk-free environment. VR training also boosts technicians' confidence and readiness, equipping them to solve complex challenges with greater precision and efficiency, according to I-CAR's website. For a tool to help solve the technician shortage, it’s a neat way to get gamer kids into it.
This fulfilled two needs I had: to work in a garage and have an excuse to play video games while working.
I donned the VR headset, then the hand controls, and I will admit, I felt like a fish out of water. I recall saying, “Wow! This is trippy.”
Normally when I play games, I am either shooting Nazis, zombies, or zombie-Nazis, but instead, I was doing tasks.
I was changing a high-voltage electric vehicle battery, which is a dangerous task in real life. No wonder why I-CAR wanted kids to go through this before doing it “IRL,” (in real life) as the kids I-CAR is trying to attract would say.
To someone who might be more experienced, it might be weird to click instead of grab — or click instead of simply walk from A to B. But a younger generation — as well as the overall industry that is going through a tech shortage — would certainly benefit.
While observing another I-CAR exhibitor taking on the VR set, I had the chance to chat with I-CAR Learning Innovation and Technology Manager Michael Mertes.
He shared a story that will tell you that I-CAR's approach to solving the tech shortage is on point:
“We were at a career day and this young gentleman saw the headset. He was a big gamer and just wanted to check out what was on the headset, so we had a paint spray refinisher on there. He went through it, he loved it, he was excited. He took the headset off and he said, ‘Is this a real job? Is this something I can actually do?’, and we told him it sure is. We gave him a brochure from the Collision Repair Education Foundation. And two years later, this year, we went to a local college to show off our latest demos. That same student walked through that door and said, ‘I remember you guys! I’m now here to do paint spray refinishing!’ We’d like to say there were other factors, but he said he had never seen anything like this before and he’s now doing it for a career.”
I think back to a lot of my old friends in middle school and high school who were gamer heads. I don’t know what they’re all doing in life now, but I can’t help but wonder if we had an organization like I-CAR come to our school and show us something like this, would this have changed our career paths? Would the tech shortage even be a thing?
One thing is for sure, I can imagine this would no doubt bring more people, and even Gen-Zers, into the collision repair space.
