Earlier this week, Research laboratory of the US army introduced a new revolutionary project that could change the way the use of military working dogs.
These well-trained dogs that are present in all units of the armed forces of the United States, are used for everything from attacks and detect explosives to patrol, search, rescue and tracking. All this implies the participation of the person executing the command using hand gestures or light devices such as laser pointers. Unfortunately, these methods often may expose the operator to the numerous dangers in the field.
Command Sight, a company out of Seattle, specializing in the contact of people with animals, is committed to upgrade these tactical interaction using AR technology, developed specially for children K9. To each dog used 3D scanning, which is used to create a personalized headset is placed AR with optics. This headset provides visual cues to the animals, allowing the operator to see exactly what he sees his partner, and give orders from a safe position.
“Augmented reality works for dogs different than for humans,” said Dr. Stephen Lee, senior researcher, ARO. “AR will be used to give the dogs commands and signals the dog can’t interact with her as a person. This new technology offers us an important tool to improve communication with the military service dog”.
“We are still in the initial stage of the study the application of this technology on dogs, but the results of our initial research is very promising,” added Dr. A. George. Peper, founder of the company Command Sight. “To date the bulk of research was conducted with my Rottweiler. His ability to move from other workouts to work through the glasses AR was incredible. We still have to go all the way from the point of view of fundamental science and development before the development is ready for use”.
According to Command Sight, the project is managed by Research office of the army and funded by the programme Small Business Innovation Research is still in its initial stages. The team has just completed Phase 1 SBIR, and has already been confirmed for Phase 2, with funding from the office of technology rapid response of the Ministry of defence. This additional support will go to developing prototypes AR headsets for the military dogs serving in the Navy special forces.
According to the Army.Mil the next two years of the project will be devoted to the development of “wireless product industrial level.”
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