SOAR TECHNOLOGY, LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N171-021

Description

Augmented Reality (AR) as a concept has been in existence since the 1960s, used in fighter pilot cockpits for some time augmenting pilot performance. AR has continued to see technological leaps in accessibility and affordability with systems such as Google Glass and the Microsoft HoloLens becoming available to the general public. Mobile-based AR is also on the rise as smart phones become ubiquitous in todays society, with apps like astronomy app Star Chart and the briefly wildly-popular game Pokmon Go. Despite these advances, however, AR as a whole is still largely underutilized in areas in which the enhancement of human performance can have the most benefit. This is because in many ways, AR is a technological solution without a clear set of general guidelines for what problems AR solves and to what efficacy. In order to address this innovation gap, Soar Technology proposes to develop the Media Efficacy Return on Investment Tool (MERIT). MERIT is a theoretical framework methodology and tool for quantitatively evaluating AR and other training solutions for a given training environment based on four factors: Task Factors, Training Media Factors, Return on Investment (ROI) Factors, and Training Efficacy Factors.