The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is trying to solve a chronic
problem for the military services: the shortage of training facilities and the
difficulties in making time to train.
Under a program called DARWARS, the agency is seeking personalized, on-demand
training that can run on a notebook computer. DARWARS is a “virtual schoolhouse,”
said Ralph Chatham, manager for DARPA’s Training Superiority program.
The project highlights one knotty issue—that computer-based training
can be dry and not necessarily effective for unmotivated students.
“If there is this compelling nature to training, the value to the military
is that it may make people want to train,” said Chatham. To accomplish
this, DARWARS will meld an array of technologies, ranging from digital video
of human instructors to gaming, based on the success of commercial multiplayer
online games.
“People are paying $15 per month to play these online games,” Chatham
said. “Can DARWARS create that kind of passion for training?”
DARWARS is part of DARPA’s Training Superiority project, which received
$6 million in funding for fiscal year 2003.
The three-year DARWARS project currently is more vision than reality. Offering
an example, Chatham paints an almost fantastic picture of what a “DARWORLD”
training might ultimately look like.
A pilot might be on a carrier in the Persian Gulf, and decide to use his laptop
computer to hone flight skills. An eyeball tracking device first verifies the
pilot’s identity, then DARWARS helpfully informs him that he neglected
to read his last after-action review. It displays the report, detects that the
pilot’s eyes were elsewhere when he should have been reading the third
paragraph, and asks him why he did not like reading that paragraph. The answer
is sent automatically to a training bulletin board for discussion.
Second, DARWARS asks the pilot if he would like to find partners for his training
mission. He can only find two more, but DARWARS provides a third, computer-generated
pilot to fill out the formation. The DARWARS server determines what refresher
training each of the three human pilots needs. It also notes that a soldier
at Fort Hood, Texas, is rehearsing a close-air support mission, calling in a
B-52 strike. Yet, the B-52 crew, sitting at their own laptops, will be quitting
for lunch, so DARWARS informs the Fort Hood soldier that the carrier-based aircraft
will be taking the place of the bomber.
Finally, the carrier pilots are briefed by a simulated operations officer and
launch their mission (each pilot manning his own laptop computer). One pilot
needs refueling training and gets it, while the rest of the flight practices
navigation. DARWARS sees that the Fort Hood soldier has not practiced emergency
first aid for more than six months, so it adjusts his scenario so that enemy
resistance grows. The soldier calls for close-air support from the Navy fighters,
and one of the pilots strafes so low that his plane is hit and he ejects. The
soldier then treats his wounds. If the soldier is called away to a meeting,
DARWARS generates an avatar to play for him while the Navy pilots continue the
exercise.
Although the scenario is ambitious, Chatham believes that DARWARS can demonstrate
that this approach is both feasible and relatively inexpensive. “Collect
it, bottle it, put it on CDs, and it will pay for itself in about two hours,”
he added.
DARWARS is focusing on distributed air mission training, rapid tactical language
and training in troubleshooting for information technicians. In the case of
language training, the goal is to teach a soldier a working knowledge of a foreign
language and culture—such as using the right hand gestures—in two
weeks, solely using PC-based training software. For training information technicians,
the goal is to create a computer tutor superior to the best human teacher—and
do it for under $200,000.
DARWARS is as much a cognitive as a technological approach, according to Chatham.
In addition to offering accessible learning, it aims to stimulate a soldier’s
thinking.
Chatham knows the sort of training that he wants to eliminate. He recalls entering
the sonar room of a Navy ship during a training session, and discovering that
the crew was flipping coins to decide which one of them would read training
manuals out loud for the next 45 minutes.
DARWARS will use or develop technology to personalize training and make it
more interesting.
One way is to emulate television news. Chatham envisions students watching
video digital files of human teachers delivering recorded lectures. But instead
of standing in front of a static blackboard, the teachers will make use of the
sorts of background effects used by CNN to keep viewers watching.
“Let’s say I have a video file of me talking,” he said. “I
have the words that would have been put on the blackboard. They get put on the
screen in this corner, and then there are moving images in the background just
like CNN. Otherwise, if you have a stationary background, everything looks flat.”
Chatham, an energetic former U.S. Navy diesel submarine officer, admits that
much of this is sheer concept. Some of the required technology still needs to
be developed. “Everything I’m telling you is through rose-colored
glasses. It’s what I want to have happen.” But he is confident that
DARWARS can demonstrate a foundation for future military training programs.
“We want to show that it can be done.”
Ultimately, the measure of DARWARS will be whether soldiers want to train,
Chatham said. “I will know DARWARS has succeeded when a soldier turns
to another fellow and says, ‘I was checked into DARWARS last night, and
I get more points fighting against a real person than fighting against a non-player
character. I don’t care what your spouse says. Tonight, you’re going
to be in DARWARS fighting with me.’”