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By KCRG-TV9 News Reporter Dave Franzman – TV9 Iowa City Newsroom

The War in Iraq and Afghanistan has been fought for more than a year. And the soldiers are using the same weapons, vehicles and equipment they trained with before the war started. But soon, Iowa technology could play a role in how those weapons, clothes and equipment are developed.

When the military designs a new weapon or piece of equipment, you have to create prototypes or models, to see how it works in real life. That's an expensive and sometimes slow process. But inside a U-of-I engineering lab they're working on a "virtual soldier" who can do a lot of testing inside a computer. That could save time, money and perhaps lives.

What's happening at the U-of-I’s virtual soldier lab looks like a sort of video game meets computer animated movie. But researchers have more hopes for their life-like virtual soldier they call "Santos." And so does the Army.

Karim Abdel-Malek who is working on the project told TV9, “They want us to answer questions such as how long can you have soldiers do a particular task, when do you need to drink water, relax.”

Last fall, the Army hired this research group to create a virtual soldier. In four months, they've built a digital human form. They've compared computer movements to real people measured by infrared cameras. Soon, Santos may start work on his real job, testing ideas and equipment for a future combat systems program.

Senior program manager Steve Beck told TV9, “We're hopeful in a year, year and a half, we'll have something they can actually use. What they can do depends on how far we can take this.”

U of I grad student Amos Patrick told TV9, “Being a gamer, you just learned a lot of stuff more than just play games...it's exciting.”

The Army contract wants the U-of-I’s virtual soldier to test protective clothing, understand how long soldiers can carry loads and much more.

Santos won't impact what's happening in Iraq. But five or ten years in the future Santos may get to try new equipment or combat techniques, before any real soldier. The army contract with the virtual soldier research project is worth about $17 million over a five-year period.

By the time they're done, they hope their virtual soldier can provide a "human" factor for testing, without the need to endanger a real human being.

Do you have a question or comment about this story? Click here to e-mail Dave Franzman.

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