Army officials say an augmented reality training system created by Microsoft will be ready for prime time by 2021.
Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, commander of Program Executive Office Soldier, touted the system’s AI capabilities to reporters at a recent Adaptive Squad Architecture industry day, Military.com reported Friday.
Troops using specialized glasses will be able to create training scenarios in any environment with digital opposition forces that learn and adjust to behavior.
“AI is also going to ensure that those avatars will begin to learn how you clear a room, so the second time you go in there and you think that avatar is going to be behind the door just like he was the first time — he’s not,” the officer said. “He is going to have moved himself and given himself a position of advantage.”
The system, called Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), was created by Microsoft as part of a $480 million contract awarded in 2018.
“I need an E-5 or an E-6 (non-commissioned officers) to be able to set up his own training,” Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts added. “They can walk in, they can scan a room and they can download that scan. And he can go in there and put his avatars — however big a force that they want to go against — and they can populate that room and have a four-man stack go in and clear that room. … We know we can do everything we need to do with IVAS.”
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Soldiers are scheduled to give IVAS a round of testing in October, the defense website reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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