Virtual Environments for Soldier Training via Editable Demonstrations (VESTED)

The construction of effective demonstrations for training skilled behaviors, especially for military teamwork skills, is in need of technological support and methodological guidance in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of military training. Virtual Environments for Soldier Training via Editable Demonstrations (VESTED) is being developed to provide a VE authoring facility and associated guidance for the construction of demonstrations in video and audio with simulated environments and synthetic human characters. Initial Phase I research has identified the key design issues (sequence/repetition, level of fidelity, perspective, error representation, timing, and teamwork) for which a full range of authoring options will be provided for the end user and for which experiments are to be conducted to provide authoring guidance. Authoring usability and efficiency issues have also been addressed to insure that the authoring process is as quick and easy as possible, especially in controls for the behaviors of synthetic human characters. Experiments are planned to refine the facility design, to provide authoring guidance, and to evaluate authoring usability. The primary initial training domain for VESTED development is MOUT tactics, including room clearing and “cordon and search,” though diverse other team and individual tasks will also be addressed and supported.