Microsoft Army Goggles Left US Soldiers With Nausea, Headaches in Test
US soldiers using Microsoft Corp. 's new goggles in their latest field test suffered “mission-affecting physical impairments” including headaches, eyestrain and nausea, according to a summary of the exercise compiled by the Pentagon's testing office.
More than 80% of those who experienced discomfort had symptoms after less than three hours using the customized version of Microsoft's HoloLens goggles, Nickolas Guertin, director of Operation Test and Evaluation, said in a summary for Army and Defense Department officials. He said the system also is still experiencing too many failures of essential functions.
The problems found in the testing in May and June were outlined in a 79-page report this month. The Army marked it “Controlled Unclassified Information” to prevent public distribution, but Bloomberg News obtained a summary.
Despite the device's flaws, Guertin doesn't deem it a lost cause. He recommended that the Army “prioritize improvements” before widespread deployment to reduce the “physical discomfort of users.” He said improvements are also needed to the goggle's low-light sensors, display clarity, field of vision and poor reliability of some essential functions.
On the positive side: The latest model's reliability has improved for a key metric -- the mean time between failures that render the whole system inoperable, according to the report. Leaders and soldiers also reported that the latest version “enhanced navigation and coordination of unit movements,” Guertin wrote.
Microsoft's Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, is expected to provide a “heads-up display” for U.S. ground forces, similar to those for fighter pilots. It would let commanders project information onto a visor in front of a
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