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2019 Haptic Interfaces for Public Safety Challenge
Congratulations to the winners of the Haptic Interfaces for Public Safety Challenge for demonstrating the relevancy of haptic feedback for public safety.
Since March 2019, contestants investigated the potential of haptic interfaces to assist first responder tasks in both virtual reality and real-world scenarios. Partnering with PSCR on this challenge was the First Responder Network Authority, FirstNet built with AT&T, MSA Safety, and the West Metro Fire Protection District (CO).
The contestants, consisting of Haptic Providers and Haptic Development Teams, and their haptic interface prototypes were evaluated in two key areas:
- How the prototypes impact a first responder's performance in three virtual reality (VR) scenarios [law enforcement, emergency medical services (EMS), and fire service], and
- How, once embedded into firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE), the prototypes assist firefighters in a realistic scenario as they navigate and conduct a search and rescue task at a firefighter training facility.
Participating teams were awarded prizes, up to a total prize amount of $425,000, at each of the following phases:
- Phase 1: Concept Paper
- Phase 2: Teaming
- Phase 3: Demonstration of Prototypes in Virtual Reality
- Phase 4: Evaluation of Prototypes in Virtual Reality
- Phase 5: Evaluation at Firefighter Navigation Course
For the final phase, teams competed by remotely controlling their haptic interface prototypes worn by subject matter experts and contest judges navigating a firefighter training course. The judging panel performed a final evaluation of all contestants' submissions and announced the winners on November 15, 2019.
Additional goals of this challenge were to assess the potential of using VR environments as a development tool to prototype and iterate on designs for public safety technologies. Visit the NIST GitHub page to view and download the VR source code used in this challenge.
Haptic Development Teams:
1st place: Carnegie Mellon University
Total Prize Amount: $43,500
3rd place: ENGR Dynamics
Total Prize Amount: $32,500
2nd place: Haply
Total Prize Amount: $32,500
4th place: Team DSGN
Total Prize Amount: $22,500
Haptic Providers:
Five other contestants that did not advance to the final phase of the challenge received a total of $50,000 in prizes. PSCR would like to thank all Haptic Interfaces for Public Safety Challenge participants for their hard work and dedication to creating innovative haptic-based technology for the public safety community.
To find out more information about the challenge and the winners, visit Challenge.gov.