REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Army recruitment is not one-size-fits-all.
The Army Game Studio — located at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center’s Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate — might be best known for America’s Army, the official video game of the U.S. Army. More than simply a game, America’s Army is a realistic digital facsimile of the Army experience that can be used as a recruitment tool.
However, America’s Army is just one tool in AGS’s toolbox. The team, which already partially functioned remotely prior to COVID-19, did not let the pandemic slow them down as they rolled out their newest technological recruitment tool — the Trauma Triage Table.
The table enables users to electronically diagnose and treat different injuries and ailments that an Army Soldier might encounter. The table will be rolled out for use at Army recruitment events.
In addition to recruitment, the studio uses commercial video game technology to produce state-of-the-art training applications for Soldiers, including the Transportable, Reconfigurable, Integrated Crew Trainer; the Javelin Enhanced Producibility Basic Skills Trainer; the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Virtual Crew and Dismount Trainers; and the Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station Trainers. They offer both rotary and fixed-wing trainers that use immersive technology to teach flight skills.
“These are the desks of the future,” said Frank Blackwell, Trainers Division Chief.
But AGS hasn’t limited its educational reach to training its Army personnel. Setting its sights in the classroom, AGS’s award-winning STARS: Elements app was developed for high school chemistry teachers to help their students learn and visualize the foundations of chemistry.
STARS: Elements features visual learning tools that let students explore the periodic table, elements and atomic structure, through interactive models, games, and challenges. The app is available for free on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
“The Army Game Studio has capitalized on commercial video game and interactive multimedia technology to develop government-owned training products that achieve the highest rate of return to the Warfighter at the lowest investment cost, especially when compared with alternative development strategies,” Blackwell said.
The studio employs a full roster to make this variety of technology come to life, including an art team which creates the concept art; 3D modeling and animation, game/level design team; programming team and hardware team who has extensive product development capabilities for websites; mobile applications; and more. Its facilities include five laboratories, a motion capture studio and a sound studio.
With the pandemic limiting in-person tours of their facility, AGS took their technological expertise and applied it to creating a virtual tour which launched in June.
“We run the whole spectrum,” said AGS Director Marsha Berry. “You have your creative folk and your engineers – it makes a good combination.”
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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.
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