Developed with specialists at the UK’s Defence, Explosives, Munitions and Search School (DEMSS) and the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl), this project is investigating the potential for adopting gaming technologies in search, planning and IED/EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) system deployment activities (including remotely controlled vehicles, or RCVs).
The initial demonstrator was based on a rural UK context. The field-based human factors analysis undertaken for this project indicated the need for very high fidelity representations of the virtual training scenarios.
A more recent scenario, designed to support classroom-based threat assessment training, is based on a town centre environment with railway station, gas station, laboratory, car park, sports stadium and even part of an airfield.
Trainees can develop their “Render Safe Procedures” and control 3D representations of RCVs (vehicles and manipulators), including Wheelbarrow, Cutlass and PackBot, using realtime virtual camera “feeds” to colour and monochrome displays in the back of a virtual logistics support vehicle.