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US Army Developing Simulator in Second Life

As noted by Wager James Au on New World Notes, the US government is developing a mixed reality boxing simulator in Second Life.

Dan Miller, a Senior Economist @ US Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, reports from the Army’s PEO STRI (Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, & Instrumentation) explaining: “[A] 3-D camera and Second Life (plus 3 large LCD panels). The 3-D camera translates the movement of a human being into movement by an avatar. In the demonstration I saw, there was a virtual punching bag that existed solely in Second Life. When the user throws a punch in the real world, the system reacts by showing the virtual punching bag being hit. Users can also move their avatars around Second Life simply by leaning forward.”

Au emailed PEOs Press officer inquiring about the development and received the following response: “It has the potential to be used in a myriad of situations in which the Soldier will be fully immersed in the virtual world that he or she is interacting…The Soldier will be able to move, pick up objects, interact with other people, etc., etc., such that he or she reacts to the virtual environment while the environment also reacts to his or her actions.”

This development comes as no surprise, and I am sure there are tons of classified simulators that are far more advanced than this. However, it is neat to see this development in Second Life and consider the “social” implication — different battalions will be able to train with each other regardless of distance — collapsing time and space, again. It will be interesting to see PEOs development of Army simulators in Second Life.