Case Study: the United States Army achieves intuitive UGV control with Visual Logic's gaming-inspired AR UX

United States Army delivers field-ready UGV control in 1.5 years with Visual Logic

The United States Army faced a challenge operating its experimental Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), as the complex operator control unit (OCU) was not field-ready. A significant mismatch between the system's design and the users' mental model made the vehicles difficult to control, jeopardizing their use in dangerous mission spaces. The vendor, Visual Logic, was brought in to address this UX design problem.

Visual Logic completely reimagined the OCU by implementing a gaming-inspired augmented reality solution. They replaced the mouse control with an intuitive Xbox controller and overhauled the interface into an immersive 3D heads-up display. This bridged the gap between the user and system models, delivering "walk-up-easy" control. The result was an instantly understandable and intuitive system that empowered operators to safely and effectively control mission-critical vehicles, with its waypoint-based navigation remaining ahead of its time over a decade later.

United States Army