A new AR training tool developed
by Magic Leap Horizons will use Magic Leap One AR headset to deliver various AR
military training scenarios to the US Navy. Soldiers wearing the headset will
experience a room size training environment designed to keep sailors and
marines combat-ready while at sea. The system is called TRACER, which stands
for ‘tactically reconfigurable artificial combat enhanced reality’, uses
multiple technologies as part of the simulation, such as the Magic Leap headset
tethered to a backpack processor, a simulated weapon from Haptech (formally
StrikerVR) that can deliver realistic recoil through haptic feedback, hand
tracking, and new software that can immerse soldiers into a multi-user AR
experience.
Magic Leap Horizons originally developed
TRACER as part of the US Army’s Augmented Reality Dismounted Soldier Training
(ARDST) project. The Office of Naval Research saw the potential of TRACER and
worked with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the US Army Combat Capabilities
Development Command, along with Magic Leap and Haptech Inc to reconfigure the
project to work with sailors and marines. TRACER is built almost entirely from
commercial, off-the-shelf products that anyone can purchase on the internet. What
the TRACER system can do is put soldiers into extremely dangerous scenarios
that feel very real but don’t have real-world consequences, which has always
been one of the biggest benefits of VR and AR training.
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