PITTSBURG, KS.--- This may look like a high tech video game, but it's actually a teaching tool.
They're called cat simulators and they show what it's like to operate a heavy piece of construction equipment. Shelley Schlagel is a construction management student at PSU and she says it's very realistic.
"i have never been on a dozer or excavator, but I have never been on anything like this. It is very unique and fun," states Schlagel.
When she finishes her major she'll be a manager at a construction site and she'll need to know what the equipment is capable of doing.
"Help me better understand what the operators go through everyday. I can better manage them in the future," says Schlagel.
Justin Honey is a professor at the school of construction. He says the students instantly take to video games and are naturals.
"That generation that has grown up on the video games, for them to adapt to this equipment they've been doing all their lives," states Honey.
Chad Crain also teaches the students on the simulator and he says there's a waiting list to use it.
"We had 3 sign up sheets and they were full within 2 days. There's been a ton of kids with a lot of interest," states Crain.
Each simulator cost 30-thousand dollars and they say it's just like working with the real thing.
"Sound, feel, vibration of the equipment. Really feels like your sitting in the seat of the thing," states Schlagel.
"They can put 18 to 20 hours on a piece of equipment and they're an operator, and understand the idea of working the equipment," states Honey.
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