There is an unprecedented demand for ventilators due to the coronavirus pandemic, yet the physical machines are really only part of the equation.

There is an unprecedented demand for ventilators due to the coronavirus pandemic
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In the United Kingdom, the country’s National Health Service (NHS) is having to quickly redeploy doctors and nurses from other disciplines as well as those coming out of retirement to provide support in the Intensive Care Units.

In the UK, the country’s National Health Service is having to quickly redeploy doctors and nurses from other disciplines
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To help medical staff (re)acquire the necessary skills to do that, FundamentalVR, a start-up that develops immersive simulations to train surgeons, has worked with Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to develop an online tool that allows medical professionals, to gain the key knowledge they need for ventilating patients in around 30 minutes.

The program which consists of short how-to videos and educational graphics is being rolled out at Imperial College London prior to its deployment nationally and internationally to help combat Covid-19.

“It takes years to specialise a clinician in intensive care; while this new training course is not designed to replace this expertise, it will enable health systems across the world to act now and provide the care that their patients desperately need,” says project lead Professor Ara Darzi, co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London. “With greater capacity, we can help more people survive this illness, and prevent health systems from becoming overwhelmed during this crisis,” he added.

FundamentalVR is also helping hospitals with another impact of the COVID-19 situation, as student surgeons are seeing their studies interrupted as hospitals are reserved for essential care. With non-urgent surgeries cancelled, the company, based out of London and Boston, recently made its Fundamental Surgery platform multiuser. This allows students to exercise their skills at home while in isolation using the company’s @HomeVR system which was launched two weeks ago for standalone VR headsets such as Oculus Quest and HTC Vive Focus Plus.

Student surgeons are seeing their studies interrupted as hospitals are reserved for essential care
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Every user interaction is measured and recorded, such as surgical gaze, respect for tissue and efficiency of movement
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It allows students and teachers to join each other in the virtual OR, where they can interact, ask questions, view each other’s procedures and get feedback all done remotely and safely. This remote system is also currently live at Imperial College London and a dozen @HomeVR headsets have been sent at the request of a New York teaching hospital. The procedures available are being phased in for existing customers starting with Total Hip Arthroplasty (Anterior Approach).

Fundamental Surgery has been deployed with medical institutions around the world, including Mayo Clinic and UCLA in the U.S., UCLH in the U.K. and Sana in Germany. Their hardware-agnostic software solution fuses Cutaneous (tactile vibration) and Kinesthetics (force feedback & position) haptic technologies. The platform, which can be optimized for different stages of the learning process, mimics the physical cues of surgical actions, medical tools, and tissue variations.

Studies have shown that this aids learning in helping trainees develop the muscle memory essential for surgical skills. The platform utilizes off-the-shelf hardware (PCs/laptops, VR headset and haptic arms), making it less than a tenth of the cost of current learning practices.

Fundamental Surgery has been deployed with medical institutions around the world
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The platform’s data dashboard tracks hundreds of data points to provide a high level of analysis to course directors or trainees
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Every user interaction is measured and recorded, such as surgical gaze, respect for tissue and efficiency of movement, widely connected with surgical proficiency, to provide accurate real-time feedback all within a single display that can be accessed anywhere by any device, which again lends itself nicely to the new normal of remote learning and working which is likely to persist in the coming months.

When COVID-19 struck we were delighted to work with the team at Imperial College London on the rapid development of this important Ventilator Trainer
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“When COVID-19 struck we were delighted to work with the team at Imperial College London on the rapid development of this important Ventilator Trainer and are pleased to see it roll out to help build confidence and competence with Healthcare professionals at this challenging time,” concludes Richard Vincent, CEO and Co-Founder of Fundamental VR, saying this is a good example of how technology companies are coming together to support the work of healthcare professionals and work through the many challenges presented by the pandemic.

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Training Healthcare Workers With XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

“Even in times of global pandemic, no one has to be alone. COVID-19 has forced us apart, but technology makes it possible for us to work, learn, and interact with one another, while remaining physically distant.”

From technical terms to hardware and the right platforms to meet your specific needs, the guide should serve as a primer for newbies and a refresher for jaded pros
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That was the motivation that brought together a group of XR industry professionals and influencers (myself included) to collate and share the resources needed to help more people take advantage of XR collaboration tools, right when they are needed the most.

The guide will continue to be a collaborative effort, so make sure to sign up for updates and send your feedback via @XRCollaboration
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The “Global Resource Guide to XR Collaboration” is a comprehensive guide to using Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) collaboration platforms for business and education.

“XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment through spatial understanding. By sharing fully-immersive spaces with others, we begin to bridge the physical gap opening up a whole new world of communication possibilities.”

Produced by the XR Ignite and assembled by coalition members from technology companies and associations – including AREA, AWE, Deutsche Telekom, Cleanbox, MetaVRse, Qualcomm Technologies, VR/AR Association and XR Bootcamp – the guide and website are meant to become a one-stop-shop for all your XR collaboration questions and needs.

XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment through spatial understanding
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From technical terms to hardware and the right platforms to meet your specific needs, the guide should serve as a primer for newbies and a refresher for jaded pros. But just as much as this is about collaboration, the guide itself was (and will continue to be) very much a collaborative effort, so make sure to sign up for updates and send your feedback via @XRCollaboration

And to end on a specially positive note as we head into a very strange Easter weekend…

“We are all in this together, and we will continue to thrive, no matter what the future holds. Stay safe and productive, and remember: it is the personal connections we make each day that make us human. So let’s put this technology to use to bring us together like never before.”

You can download the guide for free and access the latest updated resources at xrcollaboration.com

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Collaborating in XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

An Oregon start-up has launched a new 3D collaboration platform for the HoloLens – and it’s free.

Object Theory calls itself “the world’s first HoloLens company,” and although all such claims have to be taken with a pinch of salt, they’re probably not far off. Back in 2015, just weeks after the HoloLens was first unveiled to the world, Michael Hoffman left Microsoft – where he was responsible for creating many of the HoloLens showcase experiences such as the Trimble demo – to start the company with co-founder Raven Zachary, who had previously founded iPhoneDevCamp, the largest non-Apple iOS development conference.

Object Theory was one of the first companies to become a Microsoft HoloLens Dev Partner
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They became one of the first teams to join Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Partner Program. Ever since, the Portland-based startup has been working from their Oregon base with a range of enterprise customers in industries such as Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Automotive and Energy & Utilities.

Object Theory has worked with customers in the Architecture, Automotive and Energy sectors
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Prism features avatar-based holographic telepresence
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Now Object Theory has just released a new collaborative computing application for the HoloLens called Prism, which takes many of the functionalities they’ve been developing for those clients over the past couple of years, and offers them to users in a free Windows Store application.

“We’ve been working on our Mixed Reality Collaboration Service for two years, and after deploying it successfully for several client projects, we felt it was the right time to release a free application on the Windows Store that demonstrates to HoloLens users the power of collaborative computing,” says Hoffman

Prism currently includes two demo experiences users can try out: Designing a modern house and planning a mountain hike on Mount Hood, Oregon’s highest peak. These are very cool, but this is about more than individual demos, it’s hinting at a much broader trend that companies like Object Theory are hoping to capitalize on. At its core, its founders say that Prism represents the vision of collaborative computing that HoloLens creator Alex Kipman has long advocated.

The platform allows users to examine and discuss 3D objects and environments simultaneously
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The combination features takes the Prism proposition far beyond your usual videoconferencing
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Prism features avatar-based holographic telepresence that allows participants to examine and discuss truly three-dimensional objects and environments through shared experiences. The application allows up to four participants per session to collaborate in real time from remote locations, enabled by life-size 3D avatars and spatial audio chat. In other words, it lets users interact realistically with people, objects and environments, both real and digital. That includes being able to display 3D models at tabletop and true-scale sizes, as well as making annotations in 3D space.

The combination of all those features really does take the proposition far beyond your usual videoconferencing offering. You’re not talking about sharing a screen, but about being able to walk around three-dimensional objects and examine in detail while your colleagues do the same, and you know you’re all looking at the same thing.

Such applications brings us closer to Alex Kipman's vision of Mixed Reality collaborative computing
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An architectural design team, for example, can switch between looking at a holographic model of a building sitting atop a desk to actually standing inside one of the rooms, and compare their experiences in real-time with one another, regardless of where individual team members happen to be in the world. A medical team could do the same when deciding the Operating Theatre layout before a complex surgery, and even have a practice run with a holographic patient. The possibilities are endlessly exciting, and if well-executed, the concept has potential to be a massive game changer for all industries. Which is why the HoloLens has had such enthusiastic take-up in building corporate partnerships.

If well-executed, the concept has potential to be a massive game changer for all industries
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The technology is currently being used in custom application projects for enterprise customers
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The technology is currently being used in custom application development projects by enterprise customers, and Object Theory offers several license options for its Mixed Reality Collaboration Service that include building custom applications. The company also offers a commercial version of Prism that allows organizations to import their own 3D models and collaborate in private sessions.

“We believe that Mixed Reality will empower the next generation of collaborative computing beyond what today’s video conferencing and screen sharing solutions are able to provide,” says Zachary. “Our public release of this application is just the beginning of showcasing next-generation collaboration scenarios, something we expect to be a major focus for Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality applications in the years to come.”

This article was originally published on VRScout

This HoloLens App Wants To Kickstart Collaborative Mixed Reality via @alicebonasio https://t.co/xIX3AgXjKr pic.twitter.com/lMpgGQSqqx

— VRScout (@VRScout) December 4, 2017

If you would like to find out how to leverage collaborative VR/AR/MR in your own project or enterprise, Tech Trends offers Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Collaborating in Mixed Reality is Big Business appeared first on Tech Trends.