Dan_Shues
04-12-2004, 05:55 PM
Something I picked up...
A U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq guards a barbed wire checkpoint. An Iraqi woman covered head-to-toe in a black robe crosses the street. A small car appears in the distance, eventually stopping in front of the soldier's outstretched arm.
The soldier asks the man behind the wheel, an Iraqi citizen, to step out of the car. "Sir, where are you going?" the soldier asks. Suddenly an alarm sounds. A bomb has just exploded at a local Iraqi police station. What do you do?
Tonight on "Tech Live," take a look at the United States Army's latest training simulator. It's designed to help soldiers tackle sticky wartime situations. The simulator is a Web-based virtual representation of Baghdad with war-themed avatars, or virtual personas, manned by real people. The Army's new tool is based on the same technology used in ma$$ively multiplayer games.
"We're looking to leverage the Internet and gaming technology to train soldiers for the missions they'll be facing today in Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations," says James Grosse, a project engineer with the U.S. Army.
Soldiers go There
The simulator is being designed by There, the Menlo Park, Calif., company building a commercial, virtual, "Sims"-like world online. Inside There, thousands of netizens can create individual avatars, or virtual personas, and chat, hang out, and add layers of activity such as shopping, chatting, and decorating.
There's Army project, so far, has re-created one square kilometer of Baghdad, with intricate details ranging from Arabic street signs to desert palm trees. Eventually, the project will simulate the entire earth.
"For the young people of today, playing with computers is second nature to them," Grosse says. "This is something that'll be pretty easy for them to pick up on."
The goal, for now, is to make soldiers familiar with the Iraqi terrain and the various scenarios that can pop up at a moment's notice in wartime -- all through the prism of a Web-based videogame.
"This is a tool that enables the U.S. Army to train in asymmetric warfare," There CEO Steve Victorino says. "It's a very different war than what we've seen in the past."
Virtual training for real-life war
In the Baghdad simulator, soldiers train for various wartime scenarios, such as a terrorist bombing or a surprise attack at a checkpoint, with live participants around the world playing various roles with their avatars.
To play, all a soldier needs is a headset, a microphone, and the software installed on a PC.
"Soldiers across the globe are training together now and over the Internet," Grosse says. "That's a capability the Army has never had. We can put hundreds or thousands of people into this environment."
Creating virtual earth
The Army likes the Baghdad concept so much, it's given There four years and $3 million to create a virtual simulation of the entire planet that can be used for wartime training in any hot spot.
For now the Baghdad simulator is still in the research phase and won't be ready for testing with soldiers until at least September 2004. But already the wheels are in motion to get the 101st Airborne Division, recently back from a tour of duty in Iraq, to give the simulator software its first big test.
A U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq guards a barbed wire checkpoint. An Iraqi woman covered head-to-toe in a black robe crosses the street. A small car appears in the distance, eventually stopping in front of the soldier's outstretched arm.
The soldier asks the man behind the wheel, an Iraqi citizen, to step out of the car. "Sir, where are you going?" the soldier asks. Suddenly an alarm sounds. A bomb has just exploded at a local Iraqi police station. What do you do?
Tonight on "Tech Live," take a look at the United States Army's latest training simulator. It's designed to help soldiers tackle sticky wartime situations. The simulator is a Web-based virtual representation of Baghdad with war-themed avatars, or virtual personas, manned by real people. The Army's new tool is based on the same technology used in ma$$ively multiplayer games.
"We're looking to leverage the Internet and gaming technology to train soldiers for the missions they'll be facing today in Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations," says James Grosse, a project engineer with the U.S. Army.
Soldiers go There
The simulator is being designed by There, the Menlo Park, Calif., company building a commercial, virtual, "Sims"-like world online. Inside There, thousands of netizens can create individual avatars, or virtual personas, and chat, hang out, and add layers of activity such as shopping, chatting, and decorating.
There's Army project, so far, has re-created one square kilometer of Baghdad, with intricate details ranging from Arabic street signs to desert palm trees. Eventually, the project will simulate the entire earth.
"For the young people of today, playing with computers is second nature to them," Grosse says. "This is something that'll be pretty easy for them to pick up on."
The goal, for now, is to make soldiers familiar with the Iraqi terrain and the various scenarios that can pop up at a moment's notice in wartime -- all through the prism of a Web-based videogame.
"This is a tool that enables the U.S. Army to train in asymmetric warfare," There CEO Steve Victorino says. "It's a very different war than what we've seen in the past."
Virtual training for real-life war
In the Baghdad simulator, soldiers train for various wartime scenarios, such as a terrorist bombing or a surprise attack at a checkpoint, with live participants around the world playing various roles with their avatars.
To play, all a soldier needs is a headset, a microphone, and the software installed on a PC.
"Soldiers across the globe are training together now and over the Internet," Grosse says. "That's a capability the Army has never had. We can put hundreds or thousands of people into this environment."
Creating virtual earth
The Army likes the Baghdad concept so much, it's given There four years and $3 million to create a virtual simulation of the entire planet that can be used for wartime training in any hot spot.
For now the Baghdad simulator is still in the research phase and won't be ready for testing with soldiers until at least September 2004. But already the wheels are in motion to get the 101st Airborne Division, recently back from a tour of duty in Iraq, to give the simulator software its first big test.