The IVAS system was the one that caused a massive protest from Microsoft employees as a combat system. Google had similar issues with other tech developments. The protest was highly controversial, and somewhat unnecessarily bitter. Microsoft and Google can be glad they’re not employing apathetic fools, but this system goes way beyond its current applications in almost endless ways.
IVAS background
The IVAS system in its present incarnation is part battlefield mapping and part information. It’s not quite the same as the online gaming versions, but similar in overall intention. This is “mixed reality” or “augmented reality”, that highly selective thing, but with a meaningful purpose beyond shooting adorable anime characters.
In military terms, it’s a portable information and communications system. Ultra-useful, and a great way of avoiding casualties. It can spot IEDs and other tourist attractions, making troops a lot safer. It can work with live data in real time. The IVAS system offers a vast range of potential values for military operations, from combat to managing other information.
IVAS is hooked up to sensors, databases, and of course, grunt-sourced information. Theoretically, it can handle any range of relevant inputs, giving it built-in flexibility, notably lacking in other combat systems.
This actually is a true revolution in combat systems, in so many ways. It uses machine learning to create the working system. This is arguably one of the toughest of all assignments of AI in the real world, and it’s been successful. The sheer number of possible issues and problems in creating a system like this should be acknowledged as a major achievement.
Other applications of IVAS
IVAS is at about Square 2 of its potential. It’s now operational; therefore it must evolve. In that environment, new risks and information requirements are standard ongoing procedural issues.
Part of that evolution, interestingly, is the potential for non-military systems which could feed from and feed back into the military systems. There are plenty of possibilities:
• Emergency services: IVAS could deliver and plot useful information in disaster scenarios, fires, and similar environments. The ability to deliver current information onsite is crucial to efficiencies for these services.
(Firefighting is a particularly interesting environment for IVAS. When you’ve just had about a quarter of your country go up in flames as we have in Australia, finding people, avoiding hazards and mapping risks becomes a very relevant real time issue.)
• Law enforcement: Whether it’s mass shootings or any of a host of major problems in an environment, risk management is front and center of the management issues. Finding and getting people out of harm’s way is another issue. IVAS could do that, quickly.
• Paramedics and the medical food chain – Emergency services need current information and a lot of it. From first aid to preparing proper care at a hospital, everything is ultra-relevant. IVAS can easily deliver that with a few modifications.
• HAZCHEM – Chemical risks come in many, usually lethal, forms. You can use drones, etc., sure, but human contact with hazardous environments needs proper safety and risk evaluation.
• Construction and building maintenance – How dangerous is a dangerous building? How many people have been injured working in these environs? IVAS could do structural analyses, using specialized sensors and equipment, safely. People I know have to work with dangerous wiring, etc., as major risks which need to be avoidable.
• OH&S applications – The workplace is historically more dangerous than a war zone; you’re more likely to be injured at work than just about anywhere else on Earth. Consider a portable OH&S system with real time information cross-referenced to compliance. It’d be priceless. It’d also save lives.
• Space – IVAS could deliver a huge amount of information for a Moon or Mars landing. Obvious, isn’t it? Anyone on another planet can’t wait for information from Earth. It could also take firsthand readings of sensor information to identify risks and assets in these places.
• Sensory prostheses – OK, this is heading into a different ballgame, but it’s a logical development, enhancing sensory aids. Very useful for anyone who needs instant information, quality of life improvements, and similar developments.
A new class of tech without a name?
This class of technologies doesn’t yet have an identity. May I suggest “Real Time” as a working description? It probably will become universal. You could have personal IVAS for your own needs, custom made. If you’re a gardener, you probably need it. Even just scrolling around the home for possible risks, upgrades, etc. would be valuable.
IVAS is a logical part of the future nobody really saw coming except in very broad, vague, terms. Now it’s here; what can we do with it? Find out; it will be worth it.
