Effort led by Morgantown-based CMI2 included a partnership with the University of Alabama Huntsville
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Soldiers from the West Virginia Army National Guard recently tested a Mixed Reality Platform (a blend of physical and digital components) prototype to solve a problem set submitted to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (DEVCOM) and the Civil-Military Innovation Institute’s Catalyst-Pathfinder program. On March 25, members of A Battery, 1st Battalion, 201st Field Artillery (1-201st FA BN) tested and experimented with the new platform to identify readiness capabilities and opportunities for improvement.
The Catalyst-Pathfinder program aims to capture Soldier-inspired problem sets and research to see if solutions exist to solve the issue. If no solution exists, the program contracts research institutions or small businesses to create solutions to re-integrate into the Army. The 1-201st FA BN identified a problem in 2022 relating to a skills enhancement capability gap due to their Paladins not always being readily accessible for crew drills.
Based out of Morgantown, the Civil-Military Innovation Institute (CMI2) facilitates this program on behalf of DEVCOM in several regions, including West Virginia. CMI2 researched this problem set for the 1-201st FA BN. When CMI2 discovered no solution exists for this issue, they contracted with Marshall University to create a solution that would close this capability gap.
“Marshall University is so pleased to have the opportunity to support the West Virginia National Guard on this project,” said Dr. David Dampier, Dean of the Engineering and Computer Sciences College at Marshall University and Co-Prinicpal Investigator (PI) of the project. “As a retired Soldier, it is always gratifying to be able to support current Soldiers in their training.”
As part of the first phase of this project, the project team, composed of faculty and students from Marshall University and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), developed a Mixed-Reality Platform prototype, encompassing both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality components to fully encapsulate the experience of driving a Paladin. A total of 16 Soldiers from A Battery had the opportunity to test this prototype and provide feedback to the project team for further development.
“CMI2 is always eager to explore innovation solution concepts with our academic partner, Marshall University,” said Brian Gazaway, Pathfinder Warfighter Innovation Chief for the West Virginia region. “Constant collaboration with the 1-201st FA BN to develop a usable technological platform that this unit and similar battalions can utilize for repetitive training on critical, perishable Artillery skills will prove invaluable to these units.”
