Publication: Gazette;     Date: Feb 13, 2005;      Section: Iowa Today;     Page: 23     
   


HIGHER EDUCATION UI Virtual Soldier program receives $1.2 million contract


IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa College of Engineering’s Virtual Soldier Research program has received a $1.2 million oneyear contract from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command Center for work on human modeling and simulation.

The contract means a total of $3.7 million has come from the Army to use gaming and entertainment animation techniques to simulate real soldiers.

Now in its second year, the nationally know program is an independent research group within the UI Center for Computer Aided Design that conducts basic and applied research for creating new technologies.

The computer screen characters — called ‘‘digital humans’’ — resemble real people. The work has the potential to save time and money in testing and evaluating products, equipment, vehicles and armaments before they’re manufactured, thereby eliminating expensive, real-world prototypes.

Karim Abdel-Malek, the VSR director and an associate professor of biomedical engineering, said the new contract is the latest success for the program.

‘‘Working with the U.S. Army TACOM gives us significant leverage as the technology matures to serve the military’s needs, particularly in this era of technology transformation,’’ he said. ‘‘Nevertheless, we feel this same technology will transition into the commercial sector, helping in the design of products for a safer and more human-centric outcome.’’

Last year, the VSR program exhibited in Los Angeles at SIGGRAPH 2004, the prestigious computer graphics conference. This year, VSR will be the host for the 2005 SAE Digital Human Modeling Conference, the most prestigious international conference of its kind, on June 14 to 16

in Iowa City.

VSR also was invited to share the main booth with the Army in the SAE’s World Congress and Exhibition in t h e C o b o Center in Detroit in April.

VSR researchers include faculty, staff, scientists, engineers, clinical researchers and graduate students from fields including engineering, gaming, psychology, biomechanics, human factors, computers, optimization and industrial design.