Using VR simulators to help save translators’ lives
Simulators and more recently Virtual Reality (VR) simulators have been widely used for many years; probably their best known usage has been as an aid to student Commercial Pilots who regularly use flight simulators during their training; student drivers now increasingly have the opportunity to use this technology to improve their skills. The full force of VR simulator technology though, is now being brought to bear by the US Military in a bid to save the lives of their military interpreters.
US military interpreters are trained at The Defence Language Institute located in Monterey, California where many diverse languages from Arabic to Telugu are taught. These same interpreters, especially Middle Eastern language specialists, are very likely to find themselves in combat zones and are thus in the same danger of injury, or worse, as their fellows in arms. Trained interpreters, however, are a valued and increasingly scarce resource and in a bid to reduce potential interpreter casualties, a $1.4 million VR combat simulator has been incorporated into the Monterey linguists’ training.
The VR technology simulates the very real scenarios that might be encountered by linguists whilst travelling in a military convoy and all manner of attack scenarios are covered with varying grades of difficulty available for selection and there are five simulator stations, each with a driver and gunner. Each team represents a Humvee in a convoy travelling in a virtual war zone.
Although no results as to the simulators’ effectiveness regarding reduced linguist casualties are as yet available, the US Military hopes to report these as soon as the information becomes available.