Design Interactive, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N171-092

Description

An area in dire need of training innovation is that of ship maintenance, which represents one of the Navys most acute readiness concerns. Reduced crew ships such as the LCS/Frigate and the CVN-78 provide inherently fewer opportunities for On the Job Training (OJT) due to the limited number of maintainers aboard each ship and limited time available for existing maintainers to dedicate to training on ship. Additionally, naval ship maintenance subject matter experts are retiring, with no mechanisms in place to transfer their tacit knowledge to future sailors.<br><br>Design Interactive (DI) proposes to develop and validate 1) a Mixed reality Adaptive Scaffolding Tool for Enhancing Readiness (MASTER) to support engineering maintenance training, namely troubleshooting skills, and 2) an EXpertise TRansfer, Analytics, and Content Tagging (EXTRACT) tool to embed instructional strategies from SMEs within training environments. This will provide a scientifically grounded methodology for developing 2 testbed systems: a classroom-based VR system and an Augmented Reality tool for OJT and job support. The combined MASTER and EXTRACT capabilities will integrate with existing and emergent mixed reality platforms to provide military training organizations with a pedagogically grounded approach to improving warfighter readiness and performance throughout the training continuum, from desks to decks.