Virtual reality training SBIR award given to HTX Labs
NewsJuly 30, 2019
HOUSTON, Texas. HTX Labs, LLC, the creator of enterprise immersive training and simulation programs and technology for global business entities and government organizations, recently received a Small Business Innovation research (SBIR) Phase II award associated with their Phase I work with the U.S. Air Force.
The funding provided in this Phase II award will be used to accelerate the development of the HTX EMPACT Virtual Reality (VR) platform which the Air Force plans to leverage as a way to fast-track the creation and utilization of highly immersive VR simulations within their education and training programs.
The planned adaptation to EMPACT will allow military personnel, experts, and trainers to create immersive training content and then quantify the efficacy of VR-enabled training simulations. The EMPACT platform will be able to measure multiple dimensions such as hand movement, reaction time, eye movement, user interactions, and more, and then score the participant's performance against the exemplar and compare it to the performance of others.
The SBIR Phase II award will also support the development of multi-modal VR learning that will include: a 1st-person view where the student can practice through mimicking within VR, and a 3rd-person view where they are strictly observing the expert within an immersive environment. The final modality offered will enable a trained participant to fully embody the expert, without guidance, to perform the procedure and be measured against the expert for competence and aptitude.
