Improbable Interview

 Nice interview from Improbable about the work that we're doing together this autumn looking at combining our social media synthetic wrap work with their hyper-scale agent-based modelling system and synthetic environment.

https://defence.improbable.io/qa-with-daden-the-specialist-business-breaking-new-ground-synthetic-social-media/

Virtual Reality Wargaming

A good day yesterday at Coventry's Manufacturing Technology Centre where Dstl were holding a show-and-tell on Defence Wargaming. We were luck enough to get a demo and a talking slot.

For the occasion David updated the Virtual Wargames Room (our 3D Virtual Tabletop - 3D VTT) we built in Trainingscapes a year or so ago. The new version was optimised for the Oculus Quest (which meant the hex board and model soldiers had to go).

Within the space we have:

• Three big floor maps for wargames, BAOR 1984 (an old SP game), Waterloo and the Modern War's Crisis in the Baltic. These have a real sense of scale, the BAOR map in particular looks like it's filling a whole sports hall and you just want to walk all over it!
• Example counters (done as cubes for ease of handling) for each game
• A more conventional "wargames table", in this case with a hex grid and some example troop blocks and terrain features, and even an example simple 3D sculpt tank and figure (think Airfix 1/32nd!)
• A dice for random number generation
• Some static information panels (one on Soviet tactics, the other a ruleset aide-memoire)
• A couple of dynamic information panels/web browsers to bring in rule or period related data or even live Google Docs so you can log (or read) activity and someone on the web can read/update it.

One of the whole aims was to keep it very simple. Nothing is automated, it works just the same way as though you got a physical wargame out on a real table (and we even had people knocking things off the table as in real life, and picking them up to keep the place tidy afterwards).

A visitor moving virtual pieces on a virtual wargames table!

That simplicity really worked and we got a great response to the whole concept. We also got some great feedback to our lightening talk, linked both to current projects we have with MOD and some of the peripheral (e.g. the BattlefieldAR system we are working up with Battlefields Trust) and hobby projects we are working on.

The whole day gave a good insight into some of the companies working in the professional wargaming space (or with aspirations to work there), running the whole gamut from machine-learning AI based systems to good old paper and card wargames and PIP dice for unit activation. There was also a good presentation on the current MOD needs in this area, so hopefully we'll get the chance to progress some of the ideas we presented a bit further.

Daden's MOD DASA VLC Project featured on Gov.UK News Page

Nice to see our Virtual Life Coach project featured alongside the other Phase 2 funded Defence People projects in a piece from MOD on the Gov.uk web site.

Nearly £1m is being invested to further develop and trial cutting-edge artificial intelligence, psychological, and neuroscience tools and technology such as brain scanners in a bid to boost the training, wellbeing, and mental health support offered to personnel.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Johnny Mercer said:

"We welcome this £1m investment from DASA aimed at improving the welfare of Armed Forces personnel."
"Our Armed Forces serve this country to an exceptional standard and help to keep us safe, so it’s only right that they receive the best possible training and support."

Chief of Defence People Lieutenant General Richard Nugee said:

"Defence innovation is about more than just the kit our Armed Forces use. It’s also about our men and women who serve our country."
"This £1m investment will see seven projects developed from improving training methods to boosting the pastoral care and mental health support we offer our people."

The funding is part of the second phase of DASA’s Defence People Innovation Challenge funded by the Defence Innovation Fund which is managed by the MOD’s Defence Innovation Unit; and sponsored by MOD’s Chief of Defence People.

Daden Ltd has been awarded around £150,000 to pilot a virtual life coach which can help with day-to-day personal, employment, and career issues with an aim to maintain motivation and supporting retention. The system will also track satisfaction, stress and help personnel set long-term personal and career goals. The system will be trialled at RAF Fylingdales.

Dr Adam Staines, DASA Competition lead, said:

"DASA is working with businesses of all shapes and sizes and academia to find and fund the latest innovations to benefit UK defence and security."

"Building on the successful first phase of this competition we are continuing to mesh cognitive science, artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest technologies to develop tools to support MOD personnel across their working lives."

Full article at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1m-innovation-boost-for-service-personnels-welfare-and-training

Daden selected by Thales as a Digital Maritime Pioneer

Daden are proud to have been selected as one of the Digital Maritime Pioneers by Thales.

Digital Transformation is changing the way both Defence and commercial organisations are operating in the maritime, land and air environments. Artificial Intelligence, Machine speed decision making and Virtual, Augmented and Mixed reality visualisation tools will all be part of Thales' digital offers in the future. Thales has been looking to rapidly assess these new technologies and build collaborative relationships with best of breed partners from wider markets, and to that end ran a Maritime Pioneers day in June at the Digital Catapult in London.

Thales reviewed 21 applications from some of the UK’s brightest and best start-ups and scale-ups in digital technologies, down selecting the six that responded most closely to the criteria, and whose products and expertise impressed the selection panel the most - one of whom was Daden!

Our pitch was based around the AViD project that we did for MOD DASA last year, which showed both 3D/VR subjective visualisation of maritime, aviation and -social media data, and conversational AI support in both the watch-keeping task and in controlling the visualisation environment.

We look forward to networking with the other winners and exploring with Thales how digital technologies such as AI, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality can be applied to maritime operations management.