Researchers at UTARI, in collaboration with faculty and students at the University of Georgia, have developed an advanced model to better understand lay error—the precision with which individuals align sight crosshairs with a target. Funded by the US Army DEVCOM Analysis Center, the study began with creating a photo-realistic tank-gunning simulation in Unreal Engine. Through testing with 110 participants who took more than 11,000 shots, researchers determined that target type and distance significantly influence accuracy, with closer targets producing larger errors. Despite generally high accuracy rates, all participants exhibited a significant number of shots with large errors. This finding reveals that human lay error does not follow a simple normal distribution, necessitating more sophisticated modeling approaches. The research provides critical insights for improving human precision models and establishes a key baseline for developing future aiming assistance systems.
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