The kit was developed to help special forces determine the physiological state of locals, including whether or not they find certain questions uncomfortable.

The kit actually uses a variety of sensors to track the subject's physiological state, including heart rate.

Other tools invented for operators include a glove that manipulates 3D maps and a shirt that can tell medics if you've been shot.

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United States Special Operations Command recently showed off a series of innovations designed to help SEALs, Green Berets, and other special operations forces determine if they’re being understood by locals—and if the questions they’re asking are making the subject uncomfortable. The system uses a variety of sensors to monitor a subject’s physiological state, indicating stress and other factors.



DefenseOne reports that the kit was developed by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and fifteen partners as a “physiological analysis tool.” Despite the moniker, the kit isn’t actually a mind reading kit. Instead it uses radar and other sensors to monitor the subject’s heart rate and body temperature. The kit also analyzes the subject’s voice.

As a result, the kit can be used to quietly determine, for example, if a meeting with locals went well and was understood by the participants, or if it concluded with the locals angry or stressed. The tool would be particularly useful when dealing with people from unfamiliar cultures, especially those that might hide emotions from relative strangers. U.S. troops, trained to operate over a wide area of the globe, may not have the cultural familiarity to “read a room.”

In one test of the kit, a subject was asked a line of questions that made him “fairly uncomfortable.” The kit was able to tell operators later that the questions made the subject nervous, and that it prompted a change in subtle behaviors.



In addition to the kit, contractors working with SOCOM have invented a glove that manipulates a 3D map for planning tactical air missions, as well as a shirt with embedded sensors that can send physical data to medics, including heart rate and whether or not the user has been shot.