US Army Virtual Soldier Research News Update

[Virtual Soldier Research <vsr@ccad.uiowa.edu>]

1.      Santos (VSR digital human) makes an appearance in Forbes magazine.

2.      VSR receives funding from the US Army RDECOM

3.      VSR researchers receive major award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

4.      VSR featured in two Italian articles (in Italian)

5.      Santos gets a new website (http://santos.digital-humans.org)

6.      New Journal: The International Journal of Human Factors Modeling and Simulation

7.      Reminder:  SAE Digital Human Modeling conference abstract submission.

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 1.  Santos makes an appearance in Forbes magazine.

Santos, the Virtual Soldier Research program?s digital soldier was
shown in Forbes Magazine.  The University of Iowa was selected by
the Princeton Review to be among the top ten entrepreneurial colleges in
the United States.  To represent Iowa, Forbes magazine chose a
picture of Santos working with a graduate student to publish on their web
site.  

The Top Ten Entrepreneurial Colleges
    1.      University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill 
    2.      University of Notre
Dame 
    3.      Louisiana State
University and A&M College 
    4.      Northeastern
University 
    5.      Indiana University -
Bloomington 
    6.      Carnegie Mellon
University 
    7.      Syracuse University
    8.      University of Arizona
    9.      University of Iowa
  10.      University of New Hampshire
See
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2004/10/20/04conncampentrepreland.html-

 2.  VSR receives funding from the US Army RDECOM

The VSR program continues to receive research funding from the US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM).  The objectives are to develop a fifth generation digital human that is intelligent, has realistic motions and postures, that evaluates prototypes of components and systems before they are built, therefore reducing significant costs associated with making physical prototypes. Santos, VSR?s digital human, has autonomous behavior, skin that deforms and muscles that contract and is built from the ground up using correct anatomy and a full musculoskeletal system.

 3.  VSR researchers receive major award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

A paper entitled "The Iowa Interactive Digital-Human Virtual Environment," written 
by Dr. Jingzhou Yang, Dr. Karim Abdel-Malek, Kimberly Farrell, and Kyle Nebel, will 
receive the Outstanding Paper Award at the 2004 ASME (American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers) International Mechanical Engineering Congress (IMECE), to be held November 13-19, in Anaheim, Calif.

 4.  VSR featured in two Italian articles (in Italian)

Two independent Italian news agencies published articles in Italian about the Virtual Soldier Research effort under headings: 

a. Lo US Army recluta soldati virtuali   http://punto-informatico.it/p.asp?i=46097 published in Punto Informatico

b. I want you!  http://contenuti.interfree.it/118/IDNotizia6454.htm  published by Club InterFree

 5.  Santos gets a new web site (http://santos.digital-humans.org)

We are requesting your help in supporting this web site.  All you have to do is keep track of what we do and express your opinions, give us feedback as we push this technology forward.  Our intent is to make Santos a virtual soldier that can accomplish tasks for you, test products, and reduce costs.  We cannot do these objectives alone, but we seek collaborations that will bring technologies together to accomplish these goals.

 6.  New Journal: The International Journal of Human Factors Modeling and Simulation (HFMS)

Researchers are invited to submit technical articles to this new journal, published by Inderscience, Ltd of the UK.  HFMS will focus on digital human technologies and pertinent research in human computer interaction, and computational human factors.  The Journal?s web site is: https://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=124

7.  Reminder:  SAE Digital Human Modeling conference abstract submission.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2005 Digital Human Modeling Symposium will be held June 14-16, 2005 in Iowa City, Iowa. Please go to the web page: www.sae.org/dhmc for the call for papers and to submit your abstract on-line.

Contact VSR: 


beck@ccad.uiowa.edu

Tel. 319-384-0574

www.digital-humans.org