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VR simulation company, VRAI, is collaborating with Microsoft to bring next generation simulation capability to military end users , leveraging virtual reality (VR), machine learning (ML) and the Microsoft Azure cloud.
VRAI announced the collaboration at the I/ITSEC conference in Florida this week, the world’s largest modeling, simulation and training event. VRAI is exhibiting at the Microsoft Federal Government stand at I/ITSEC this year, where they will be demoing the award winning ReACT Armour Crew Sim.
VRAIs ReACT VR Armour Crew sim won the prestigious Military Simulation & Training Award for Outstanding XR Application by a small company in 2022. The award was announced in the industry leading MS&T Magazines I/ITSEC conference edition on 21 November, and will be available to demo at the conference at Microsoft’s booth, 1969.
The ReACT VR Armour Crew Sim increases training & repetition opportunities for armour crews, using immersive VR environments to replace the need for real world platforms. Their cutting edge data exploitation platform is built on Azure to provide personalized learning insights for trainees and instructors, while also decreasing the financial cost and carbon footprint of training.
VRAI co-founder, and former armoured unit commander, Pat O’Connor, commented on the collaboration with Microsoft saying:
“We built our ReACT VR armour crew from the ground up, and we know it solves a problem for military end users because we employed top tech talent and military veterans to work with front line military end users to design and build this product. Collaborating with Microsoft gives us the opportunity to get the solution into more of our customers’ hands, more quickly, solving our customers’ problems and helping to better prepare troops for service, which is a very fulfilling mission for us.”
The ReACT VR armour crew sim is already deployed with military end users and allows troops to increase “hands on” training opportunities together in an immersive VR environment, instead of being reliant on getting access to real world platforms, instructors, and physical training environments.
The customer testimonial below describes the enhanced training outcomes the ReACT VR armour crew sim deployed in partnership with Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace has already achieved for the Irish Defence Forces: https://youtu.be/cqqZ3JNL4nc
VRAI started working with Microsoft via the “Microsoft for Startups” program, which gave them the initial access they needed to some of the technology and support that’s critical to turning product visions into life-changing products. Since then, VRAI have built their HEAT simulation data platform on Azure. This ground breaking platform is the foundation of all of their simulation solutions, and was developed in collaboration with the Royal Air Force, with funding provided by the UK Ministry of Defence via the Defence and Security Accelerator. VRAI are now part of the Microsoft co-sell program and plan to develop an offering for the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.
“Our collaboration with VRAI will enable defence customers to harness the full potential of synthetic environments and personalized training, using next-generation cloud capabilities, to meet mission priorities,” said Gus MacGregor-Millar, General Manager, Worldwide Defence & Intelligence, Microsoft. “The capabilities developed through this joint effort are critical to bringing the latest in commercial innovation to support defence and intelligence missions.”
BAE Systems also announced a collaboration with VRAI at the Farnborough International Airshow in July of this year. The two companies will work together on Azure to further develop a single synthetic environment to enable air, land, sea, space and cyber forces to plug in and train together in one virtual world, which is BAE System’s vision of the next generation of training for military forces of tomorrow.
Niall Campion, VRAI Co-Founder and Managing Director for Product & Customers, commented on the partnership with BAE Systems saying: “We believe that data, particularly data captured via virtual training, has the power to revolutionize how militaries prepare for operations.
“By capturing, storing and evaluating individual user performance data within simulation, we can deliver actionable insights to instructors, and personalized to each trainee. Our work with BAE Systems will enable us to bring these insights right to the front line of training.” ENDS
Microsoft’s Defence & Intelligence team is exhibiting at the I/ITSEC conference in Florida this week, Nov 28 – Dec 2. Stop by their booth #1969 and meet with the team, as well as experience innovative technologies in action.
About VRAI
We are democratising simulation training by bringing high end simulation capability, once the sole domain of elite roles such as pilots, surgeons and F1 drivers, to whoever needs it, whenever they need it, wherever they need it
Our insight is that VR, as well as being a great way of presenting data to a user, is also an incredibly powerful data capture medium.
We combine virtual reality technology with data capture, analysis and machine learning (ML) in order to measure, evaluate and predict human performance and improve training outcomes.
VR simulation has the added benefit of reducing the cost and carbon footprint of traditional training.
We are focused on helping customers in aerospace, defence and offshore wind, working through both MoDs and OEM/Primes.
We believe in creating shared value for our customers, investors, employees and community by adopting the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ and the B Corporation constitution. This means our company has a legal obligation to focus not only on profit, but also on people and the planet.
For more information see their website https://vraisimulation.com/
