Design Workshop Outcomes
The XRisis teams convened in Paris for comprehensive design workshop finalising technical specifications for three pilot implementations and establishing detailed roadmap for CORTEX2 enabling technology integration. The workshop brought together Nuwa's technical leadership, Action Contre la Faim Emergency Readiness and Response Unit personnel, and newly engaged simulation exercise design consultant Laurence Knoop to align on platform architecture, scenario development approaches, and validation planning. Discussions addressed how Rainbow CPaaS from Alcatel Lucent Enterprise would integrate via Unity C# SDK to provide secure communication backbone, how DFKI's Video Call Alternative Appearance would enable avatar-based presence, how CEA's Conversational Virtual Agent would power AI dialogue characters, and how Linagora's summarisation agent would generate automatic documentation supporting post-exercise analysis. The collaborative sessions established consensus on technical feasibility, timeline realism, and resource allocation priorities enabling confident transition from planning to implementation phase.
Three-Pilot Architecture Finalisation
The workshop validated and refined specifications for three distinct training pilots progressing from individual knowledge building through collaborative planning to complex implementation simulation. Pilot 1 will deploy AI mentor "Maud" powered by CEA's Conversational Virtual Agent in solo learning environments introducing emergency management concepts, with participants navigating themed virtual spaces whilst engaging natural language dialogue about organisational procedures and coordination mechanisms. Pilot 2 will position four-person teams in collaborative coordination office environments responding to flooding emergency scenarios through integrated communication (Rainbow CPaaS), information analysis (scenario injects via WebSocket coordination), and interactive planning tools guiding response strategy development. Pilot 3 will immerse individual participants in role-specific implementation scenarios requiring stakeholder negotiation with AI-powered characters, practicing soft skills including cultural sensitivity, relationship building, adaptive communication, and decision-making under pressure through realistic conversational interactions adapting to participant approaches.
Simulation Exercise Consultant Engagement
Action Contre la Faim's decision to engage Laurence Knoop as dedicated simulation exercise design consultant proved strategically important for ensuring platform development serves genuine training effectiveness requirements. Knoop brings over a decade of leadership, training, and project management experience in disaster response operations, providing credibility with humanitarian stakeholders and expertise in translating high-level learning objectives into specific scenario requirements, inject sequences, and facilitation approaches that technical teams can implement. His role bridges between humanitarian and technical cultures, helping Action Contre la Faim articulate requirements in implementable terms whilst helping Nuwa understand why certain apparently simple requests actually represent complex challenges given humanitarian operational contexts. The consultant will lead scenario narrative development, inject material design, and validation planning ensuring evaluation assesses both CORTEX2 technical integration and humanitarian training effectiveness through unified workshop structure.
CORTEX2 Integration Roadmap
The specification establishes detailed integration roadmap sequencing CORTEX2 component incorporation across platform development sprints. Early sprints will focus on Rainbow CPaaS integration establishing communication infrastructure foundation, followed by Unity multi-player synchronisation enabling distributed participant coordination, then WebSocket server implementation coordinating scenario inject delivery and facilitator control signals. Subsequent sprints will integrate CEA Conversational Virtual Agent for AI dialogue characters, implement DFKI Video Call Alternative Appearance integration (initially through web-based emulator pending native integration maturity), and incorporate Linagora summarisation agent for automatic documentation generation. The sequencing prioritises establishing stable communication and synchronisation foundations before layering advanced AI and avatar capabilities, reducing integration risk through incremental complexity addition rather than attempting simultaneous multi-component integration that would complicate troubleshooting when issues emerge.
Validation Planning and Timeline
The workshop established validation approach combining rehearsal testing with Action Contre la Faim project team members in March 2025 followed by comprehensive evaluation with emergency roster personnel in May 2025. Validation instruments will include System Usability Scale providing standardised usability measurement, component-specific added value ratings assessing training effectiveness, user satisfaction metrics, and qualitative debrief analysis capturing nuanced feedback about strengths, limitations, and improvement priorities. The validation timeline provides adequate development duration (six months from October 2024 through March 2025) enabling thorough implementation and testing before engaging operational users whose time commitments require reliable platform performance rather than experimental prototypes prone to failures that would undermine credibility. The planning phase alignment between technical, domain expert, and training design perspectives creates foundation for successful implementation phase commencing immediately following workshop conclusion.
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