XR Crisis Training with EU Project CORTEX²

Immersive Training for Crisis Responders

Emergency responders can now train for critical scenarios using Immergensim, which was developed as part of the EU-funded CORTEX² project. This system offers immersive XR environments for safe, repeatable, and flexible training. An AI-supported advisor, Mentor Maud, supports the team during the simulation as they face rising water and a landslide in a virtual crisis zone. This immersive trial run helps build decision-making skills under pressure and ensures coordinated responses.

Researchers at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) created a flexible infrastructure under the CORTEX² project. The Immergensim immersive training system was developed within the XRisis sub-project by XR Ireland, in collaboration with Action Contre la Faim (ACF), building on CORTEX²’s technological foundation.

CORTEX²: A Modular Platform

CORTEX² is a modular platform for cooperative extended reality that combines real-time communication, AI integration, and immersive learning spaces. It offers an architecture designed for interoperability and customisability, providing a platform-capable infrastructure open for adaptation, expansion, and cross-sector use. This includes a real-time communication system, an avatarisation system, virtual conversation partners based on AI, an automated evaluation tool, and real-time modelling of real objects. An IoT server also enables physical devices to be connected to virtual scenarios.

The researchers built on the Rainbow product from Alcatel Lucent Enterprise, transferring functions into a functional framework for XR applications. This provides a range of AI applications from a modular system of functions and tools, including:

• Rainbow CPaaS (Alcatel-Lucent): secure voice and video connections in XR rooms
• VCAA (DFKI): Video Compression Alternative Appearance - an avatarisation system
• CoVA (CEA): Conversational agents - AI-based virtual dialogue partners
• Summarisation Agent (Linagora): Automatic call summaries
• CORTEX IoT Server: Management and integration of IoT devices in XR applications
• 3D reconstruction: Real-time 3D modelling of real objects in virtual space

CORTEX² provides these services, taking into account data protection, scalability, and technical resilience.

Immergensim in Action

The CORTEX² consortium created XRisis to address gaps in humanitarian aid worker training. Traditional approaches often face limitations due to high costs, restricted accessibility, and a lack of realism. XR Ireland and Action Contre la Faim developed Immergensim as an immersive simulation platform with interactive training formats that run on desktop computers or VR headsets, recreating real-life emergencies in a virtual environment.

Immergensim’s training concept includes an individualized introduction guided by the AI mentor avatar “Maud,” a scenario-based team decision-making simulation in a virtual crisis coordination center, and the implementation of emergency measures in simulated field conditions with real-time AI support. These modular training units adapt to diverse humanitarian missions, with interactive “injects” and dynamic decision paths to make the experience practical, realistic, and measurable.

The system integrates the Rainbow communication service into the Unity environment for voice calls and collaboration. The VCAA component was replaced with a web-based avatar emulator, and the system integrates CoVA and the Summarisation Agent to structure feedback discussions. This makes Immergensim a simulation-based training solution operable even in resource-constrained settings.

Field feedback confirms Immergensim’s potential, with participants valuing the soft skills training and collaboration in the virtual crisis coordination environment. The experience is being used to refine and expand the platform. In 2025, Immergensim was awarded the Unity for Humanity Grant. The team is developing a low-code SimEx Builder to enable NGOs to design their own immersive training simulations. The system's potential extends to safety training, healthcare, education, and scenario planning for smart cities.

XR Ireland and Action Contre la Faim noted that effective innovation arises when technology partners understand and shape the user organizations' reality together, with bold prototypes maturing step by step.

CORTEX² demonstrates that technologies for a resilient, networked future are ready for use.