Virtual reality has come a long way from its inception. If you can think back far enough, back to when virtual reality (VR) was first breaking into the mainstream in the mid-1990s, it was solely the realm of video games. You put your head into some sort of gigantic helmet and grabbed a couple of glorified joy sticks and essentially stumbled around in an environment that looked something like Tron. Of course, as with many new technologies, a rough start was only the beginning of the story. There were those who saw the potential of where VR could go and they kept working at it. By the early two thousands, that gigantic helmet became a gigantic visor that still had a bunch of cables coming out of it but at least got you into a much better virtual environment. Now, in the popular mainstream there are the very small and light Oculus VR goggles that connect to your phone via Bluetooth. You still look like you’re in a video game but that isn’t really a pejorative anymore given what the modern video game is capable of.
Of course, that is the mainstream affordable VR technology available today. What kind of a capabilities are available to entities like universities, corporations, and governments with massive budgets? Basically, they make the Oculus look like a Mr. Professor from the 1980s.
One of the most interesting and undeniably cool uses of VR being explored right now is in training fighter pilots. Using VR to train pilots has a lot of advantages since flying a fighter is inherently dangerous, even outside of combat. The modern fighter jet easily costs tens of millions, with the most recent F-35 running around $80 million. That, plus the life of the pilot are big things to risk every time a new pilot takes it out for his first few solo runs. Being able to get tens or hundreds of hours of virtual time flying such a complex machine under a pilot’s belt before actually sitting in the real cockpit can minimize those dangers.
How do they go about it? Project Avenger (under the auspices of the US Navy) uses state of the art equipment like traditional simulators but also lower cost virtual reality simulators that are much more available, giving pilots more virtual hours than ever before. They can also be outfitted with suits than have more sensors than the latest Mars rover, allowing analysts to track the pilots’ physical responses like temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and more – in addition to the specific data on how they are flying. All of that data can help make pilots better, analyzing when they are banking, how hard they are climbing, and relate all of that to the stresses that both the aircraft and the body are able to take.
So, does it work? Absolutely! Pilots are getting to their solo flights up to 50% faster thanks to the integration of virtual reality and analysis of source data into the training program. That means as Project Avenger develops and becomes part of the standard pilot training for all branches of the military (let’s face it, Space Force is going to jump on this), trainees will get to their squadrons not just faster, but better pilots than they would have otherwise.
Of course, there are plenty of other potential uses for VR-based training. Surgeries, underwater welding, and crane operating can all be practiced risk free in a VR environment, allowing people to make their mistakes and ‘work out the kinks’ before they put on the gear and go do it for real.
All of this shows the importance of source data in developing new programs and products. The Navy is building better pilots by working closely with them and directly acquiring and analyzing their data, in turn making the Navy better. You can also better your business when you work with TARTLE to get source data from your clients. You will understand them better and be able to tailor your business to serve their needs and so improve the lives of both customer and business.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
One of the most interesting and undeniably cool uses of VR being explored right now is in training fighter pilots. Using VR to train pilots has a lot of advantages since flying a fighter is inherently dangerous, even outside of combat. The modern fighter jet easily costs tens of millions, with the most recent F-35 running around $80 million. That, plus the life of the pilot are big things to risk every time a new pilot takes it out for his first few solo runs.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to TARTLE Cast with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanities steps into the future, and source data defines the path.
Alexander McCaig (00:25):
Hello everybody. Welcome back to TARTLE Cast. I am off my death bed. I had COVID for a bit.
Jason Rigby (00:33):
Just for a bit.
Alexander McCaig (00:33):
Yeah, it was Hoboken, no jokin with COVID.
Jason Rigby (00:37):
Yeah. It wasn't playing around.
Alexander McCaig (00:38):
No.
Jason Rigby (00:38):
The key is you got run down first and then you got COVID, so that's makes it worse. So, people got to keep their immune systems up high.
Alexander McCaig (00:45):
Yeah. You really got to, don't wear yourself down, like way too much with physical activity. Like, overdo it.
Jason Rigby (00:51):
Yes. And then-
Alexander McCaig (00:53):
And, like immense amounts like mental stress, because then once you get it, its like, " Ooh, you a perfect host like...." And, the thing just like coming here just like eating away at the lungs.
Jason Rigby (01:01):
But I would say, "It was really bad for you."
Alexander McCaig (01:04):
It was bad. I was bedridden for legitimately two weeks. You know when people say, "Oh, I was sick, I was laying in bed." No, I was legitimately bedridden.
Jason Rigby (01:12):
Yeah. And, you're young too.
Alexander McCaig (01:13):
Yeah. Couldn't move, totally sick. You don't want to eat, nothing. I can a 100% see how COVID kills people.
Jason Rigby (01:19):
Yeah. Could you imagine like being 80?
Alexander McCaig (01:21):
No, I honestly-
Jason Rigby (01:22):
I mean that's the whole deal with...
Alexander McCaig (01:24):
Would have been brutal.
Jason Rigby (01:26):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (01:27):
Would have been totally-
Jason Rigby (01:28):
I mean, that's why people are passing away with... You know what I mean? You got a few underlying conditions.
Alexander McCaig (01:33):
I had none.
Jason Rigby (01:33):
I mean, you had no underlying conditions.
Alexander McCaig (01:35):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (01:35):
Yeah, you were just worn down.
Alexander McCaig (01:36):
Yeah. And, it just absolutely clobbered me.
Jason Rigby (01:39):
Yeah. That's crazy.
Alexander McCaig (01:39):
Yeah. And, it's different for everybody.
Jason Rigby (01:41):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because we had the flu in February, March.
Alexander McCaig (01:45):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (01:45):
And I was like, "Oh, I had COVID." And you're like, "You had COVID [crosstalk 00:01:48] know."
Alexander McCaig (01:48):
And I'm like, not even close, not even close. Yeah.
Jason Rigby (01:52):
Oh, that's crazy. Well, let's get into speaking of death. Let's get into something that's super cool, fighter pilots.
Alexander McCaig (02:04):
Yeah, fighter pilots-
Jason Rigby (02:05):
I mean, they're literally like every time they go out, I mean the risk factor is high.
Alexander McCaig (02:08):
It's super high. Right. That's why there's not very many of them.
Jason Rigby (02:11):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (02:12):
We all like to like almost sexualize, not sexualize. What the heck is the word?
Jason Rigby (02:17):
I mean, you can sexualize it by saying, "People will say they have like balls of steel."
Alexander McCaig (02:21):
Yeah, so that's what I'm saying. If you look at like Top Gun, right? [crosstalk 00:02:24].
Jason Rigby (02:24):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (02:25):
They sexualized certain aspects of it, very manly over here too, its chauvinist in certain areas. But, the real truth is these people are very highly trained pilots.
Jason Rigby (02:36):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (02:37):
Okay. So, I enjoy flying airplanes. I do it as a hobby. It's an expensive hobby [crosstalk 00:02:43] which is annoying.
Jason Rigby (02:44):
Yeah, very expensive, yeah.
Alexander McCaig (02:44):
But, it's when you're up there, I'm only doing 125 miles an hour, like ground speed. These guys are doing 700 plus. While they're doing like maneuvers and you're upside down, but the thing is, I'm not worried about getting shot while I'm flying around.
Jason Rigby (02:59):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (03:00):
[crosstalk 00:03:00] They have to worry about somebody else coming at them and threatening their life.
Jason Rigby (03:03):
Yes. Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (03:04):
So, it's a much different circumstance. So, the training required is truly above and beyond what most people would typically think. And, what we have interesting here is how is the U.S. Navy and the Air Force, how are they actually starting to use big data systems and virtual reality to help properly prepare these pilots?
Jason Rigby (03:26):
Yeah, there's an article it's called Project Avenger. And so, it was VR. And then, the title of the article is Big Data Sharpen Navy Pilot Training.
Alexander McCaig (03:35):
Sharp.
Jason Rigby (03:36):
Sharp. Yeah, which I love that.
Alexander McCaig (03:37):
Like a knife.
Jason Rigby (03:38):
And so, this VR simulation with the data that it's receiving is these Navy trainees can come in, and it provides like virtual cockpits for them. But what they found out, and this is what I thought was interesting is, it was like, it would take 12, 13 times, and then five or six times they were able to get into a cockpit by using the virtual.
Alexander McCaig (03:58):
Yeah. No, this is incredible. So, it reminds me a lot of Microsoft when they came out with Flight Simulator, and that it helped train terrorist people that hijack the airplanes, and then we add Trade Center. So, what's interesting about that is the body has to somewhat adjust to being in the virtual setting.
Alexander McCaig (04:18):
I had actually tried one of the earliest pairs back in the early 2000s of essentially virtual reality extension goggles. I had this huge... I know the Oculus is quite large right now, but it was slightly sizable for the time. But, I had a bunch of cables coming out of my head, plugged into a computer. And, it was quite neat, but the adjustment period for actually moving yourself and to absorb the state of practice, or whatever you're doing through that viewing area, take some time of adjustment.
Alexander McCaig (04:50):
And so, when we look at what's going on with the training of these pilots is that, it's going to take a period of adjustment before you actually like, "Okay, I'm in this, I'm used to it, And I've absorbed enough of, essentially this digital, you have this false reality in front of me, so that I can then later apply it to reality outside of these goggles." And what the the U.S. Navy and the Air Force is trying to do is, how do we take those early stages from one to seven before they're actually ready to go into a real cockpit? How do we analyze all the data that actually comes with it?
Alexander McCaig (05:26):
That adjustment time for the body, even your stress responses when you're on a simulator, they do also mirror a lot that's going on with in real life. So, it's actually great practice. And, it also helps with the training with the fact that you don't have to spend the money fueling up a jet, taking the risk of flying the plane and having these guys do maneuvers in real life, you can do this on the ground and still get the same sort of stressors on the body and analyze it with large computational systems while these guys are completely plugged in.
Jason Rigby (05:56):
Well yeah, they're even talking about some of the AI systems and stuff like that, being able to find like small tweaks or small faults.
Alexander McCaig (06:02):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (06:03):
So, it may actually even help... You may be able to find another, you get an experienced pilot, put them into these virtual reality and you find a little glitch of something that he's doing wrong, and probably could speak to this better, you could but... I mean, and then next thing you know, what's happening is, its like, "Oh, well you did this seven flights in a row."
Alexander McCaig (06:22):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (06:23):
You see what I'm saying? You did this little....
Alexander McCaig (06:25):
And, you might not have noticed it yourself when you were flying, because it's a one man show when you're in a fighter jet. But, when you come back and you have the ability to do the sort of black box analysis right there on the ground, you can see like you're rolling out here way too early, you're pushing the engines way too hard at this point.
Alexander McCaig (06:43):
Even though you think it feels right.
Jason Rigby (06:45):
Yes. Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (06:45):
You can actually be more efficient with your flying and all these other things. So, there's a lot of good that actually happens through that simulated training. And, we're probably going to see a lot of that as we step into the future more.
Jason Rigby (06:53):
And, the data. I mean, the amount of data that's coming in, off of the videos that they have, because they have videos in the cockpit. And then, you're getting the videos of the virtual reality, so they're able to see that. And then, the sensors that they have all on their bodies.
Alexander McCaig (07:06):
Yeah. Because they got their pressurized suits, it's reading everything. And then, you have the diagnostics that are happening specifically with the plane itself.
Jason Rigby (07:12):
Yes, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (07:14):
Right. And then, the new helmets and everything also track like your eyes.
Jason Rigby (07:17):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (07:18):
So everything is being tracked and now it's like, "How do we take all this data, the combination of it and start to drive some answers that make our pilots, better pilots."
Jason Rigby (07:25):
Yeah. And, that's what I love. I think we're on to the future. And, I think you're going to see a lot of virtual reality, whether it's big cranes and skyscrapers, any type of high risk job, I'm pretty sure you're going to see that training being done, [crosstalk 00:07:42] virtual reality.
Alexander McCaig (07:42):
Yeah, most of the training, it'll behove the companies or the government to come in and be like, "It's worth us spending this amount of money upfront to do this training virtually, and outfit these guys and planes with the possibility of crashing."
Jason Rigby (07:55):
I like... It said it here, this was funny though, real quick, that it was pronounced Sinatra.
Alexander McCaig (08:01):
Sinatra.
Jason Rigby (08:01):
Yeah. So, the General Robert Westendorff, Rear Admiral Robert Westendorf, it's called chief of Naval air training. C-N-A-T-R-A and it's pronounced Sinatra.
Alexander McCaig (08:14):
I like that. Its a soothing sound.
Jason Rigby (08:14):
Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. I love that. Because, we're talking about data and I think this is really important. If somebody wants to purchase data from TARTLE, if there's a company out there and they're listening to this, and they're wanting to get a different aspect of how they can approach their customers, specifically and ask questions, [crosstalk 00:08:37] how is TARTLE able to do that?
Alexander McCaig (08:39):
Well, TARTLE has the ability from a very granular level to go and say, "Okay, I need to purchase data from this sex, this gender, this age, in this specific locale."
Jason Rigby (08:50):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (08:50):
And, you can do that anywhere, all over the world with whatever sort of bespoke question that you might have. So say, you have something that's very specific to your business, you have the ability to carry that forward, and then purchase that data, survey, poll, whatever it might be from those individuals in that specific area. So, you get that answer, so you can make any sort of business decision effectively with perfect information.
Jason Rigby (09:10):
Yeah. Because, we did a video and I just watched it here recently again, where it was like 70% of people are doing things on a hunch.
Alexander McCaig (09:17):
Yeah. Why don't we just get rid of that hunch? And, we just a 100% are doing it. This is exactly how it should be. And, that's why when we look to the future, we look to a future of perfect information, and that's what TARTLE is trying to create. And, moving that data back and forth, that movement of data, it can only be facilitated on the TARTLE marketplace.
Jason Rigby (09:35):
That's awesome. Well, thanks Alex.
Alexander McCaig (09:36):
Cool deal. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Thank you for listening to TARTLE Cast with your hosts, Alexandra McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanities steps into the future, and the source data defines the path. What's your data worth?
Alexander McCaig (10:02):
Yeah, I'm feeling the juices starting to flow.
