Maintenance Enhancement with Next-Generation Development of Skills (MENDS) Navy SBIR FY2014.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2014.2 Topic No.: N142-124 Topic Title: Maintenance Enhancement with Next-Generation Development of Skills (MENDS) Proposal No.: N142-124-0404 Firm: Charles River Analytics Inc. 625 Mount Auburn Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-4555 Contact: Peter Weyhrauch Phone: (617) 491-3474 Web Site: www.cra.com Abstract: Navy systems maintainers are being asked to maintain increasingly complex systems with fewer maintainers and, therefore, less time for each task and less mentoring from experienced maintainers. Current training practice is not sufficient for this environment because it does not focus on creating robust, adaptable skills that give the trainee background knowledge and troubleshooting experience to solve new problems. To meet this need, we will design and demonstrate the feasibility of Maintenance Enhancement with Next-Generation Development of Skills (MENDS). MENDS is a next-generation maintenance training system and immersive game-based training environment with empirically validated training protocols, assessment tools, and models of skill acquisition and decay. MENDS features (1) the KRK theory of learning and retention applied to maintenance training; (2) an immersive game-based maintenance simulation built on DiSTI's GLStudior; (3) the D2P tutoring framework with mobile skill refreshing; and (4) our methodology for annotated skill trees (MAST) to represent and assess trainee skills. MENDS provides empirically-validated, robust training that improves critical cognitive skills required for adaptive fault diagnosis and repair. Benefits: We expect the full-scope MENDS, as well as the maintenance skill trees and immersive simulation, to have immediate and tangible benefit for military maintenance training, including Navy Technical schools (e.g., the Center for Naval Engineering and the Naval Technical Training Center), and many non-military maintenance training institutions (e.g., in the commercial airline, shipping, and automotive repair industries). We seek to enhance the effectiveness of existing maintenance training by incorporating the innovations developed under MENDS. Augmenting these processes with MENDS components will give Navy maintainers deeper, more robust skills to troubleshoot and repair Naval systems and will therefore be of great benefit. Return