The X2 MR Glasses weigh just 300 grams and claim to be the world’s smallest Mixed Reality glasses. Nick Cherukuri, CEO of ThirdEye Gen, says the devices can give front-line medical personnel treating COVID-19 patients access to critical life-saving data and communicate with emergency rooms and command centers in real-time.

“A doctor located 100 miles away could see exactly what the medic sees live from the camera point of view of the glasses. So the medic is handsfree, they can still be helping out the patient,” says Cherukuri, explaining that ThirdEye’s remote help platform allows on-the-scene medical professionals to stream what they’re seeing directly to a remote expert and receive live feedback all while remaining hands-free.

The company normally provides immersive hardware and software solutions for enterprise customers in industries such as healthcare, construction, automotive, and manufacturing. Its MR glasses and AR software platforms are currently used by companies like Verizon, Department of Defense, and Boeing.

A doctor located 100 miles away could see exactly what the medic sees live from the camera point of view of the glasses
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The pilot scheme is being rolled out by Marcus Hook Trainer and Upper Merion fire departments in Pennsylvania, spearheaded by Congressman Curt Weldon and sponsored by Energy Transfer and Sunoco LP, which are paying for eight pairs of the X2 Glasses.

“This is about protecting the men and women who are on the front lines,” Weldon told 6abc Action News in a recent report adding that his goal was to push the government and corporate sponsors to provide one of these sets off glasses for every fire and rescue unit in America.

The military-grade technology glasses are equipped with a thermal sensor that allows a paramedic, for example, to take a patient’s temperature with a thermal scanner without needing to touch them, generating a thermal heat maps to detect if the patient has a fever.

Another feature Cherukuri mentions is that it could quickly bring up a patient’s relevant medical history automatically through face recognition technology.

This types of hands-free functionality are obviously useful in all manner of practical scenarios, but a pandemic situation where it is also imperative to minimize how much you touch surfaces, this could be additionally helpful in managing the virus spread.

“This is something we feel can help and save people’s lives and also improve efficiency,” said Cherukuri.

The glasses, which run on Android 8.1 have a 42-degree field of view and are powered by a Snapdragon xR1 Qualcomm processor chip. The devices also feature a built-in SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system with dynamic occlusion, visual odometry tracking, and environment meshing-domination plane detection.

The X2 MR Glasses weigh just 300 grams and claim to be the world’s smallest Mixed Reality glasses
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ThirdEye Gen says the devices can give front-line medical personnel treating COVID-19 patients access to critical life-saving data
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The ThirdEye App Store already has over 500 software developer partners creating AR/MR free and paid applications which range from B2B to entertainment and gaming. The custom software development tool for the X2 glasses also includes an AR training platform for developers.

The X2 MR glasses are available for pre-order at $1,950 USD. There is also an option to lease the glasses on a two-year program, which spreads the costs in smaller payments.

This article was originally published on VRScout

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 Helping COVID-19 First Responders With XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

A new app could increase student engagement through innovative use of wearable tech.

An Imperial academic has found a new way to use undergraduate students’ physiological signals to better understand complex, maths-heavy subjects.

Prof Danilo Mandic, from Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, asked his students to record their own heart and breathing rates, and use that data to fill out usual mathematics coursework
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An app gives onscreen instructions on how and when to gather data, before displaying the measurements and using them in their equations
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Prof Danilo Mandic, from Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, asked his students to record their own heart and breathing rates, and use that data to fill out usual mathematics coursework. iAMP is a device that measures students’ heart and breathing rates via wrist electrodes. An accompanying computer app gives onscreen instructions on how and when to gather data, before displaying the measurements and using them in their equations.

“We hope to develop and apply the tech to other analytically and data -heavy subjects like computer science and medicine, or even business,” Professor Mandic says. “Exploring the multidisciplinary, ethical and societal aspects of our work will help students to challenge themselves, engage their curiosity, and have the confidence to be intellectually adventurous.”

Professor Mandic studied whether using this system would enrich student intellectual curiosity and engagement, and perhaps even performance, especially in maths-heavy modules
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At least 85 per cent of the students involved described increased intellectual satisfaction and engagement as a result of the idea. Professor Mandic hopes to apply the technology to other analytically and data -heavy subjects like computer science and medicine, or even business. He also hopes to inspire other educators to get creative with their teaching methods.

“Having a coursework which included real world signals like the ECG, voice and sound files made the course so much more tangible and enjoyable,” one student said.

Professor Mandic studied whether using this system would enrich student intellectual curiosity and engagement, and perhaps even performance, especially in maths-heavy modules. The approach could also help keep the curriculum current by synching it to technological and educational developments.

At least 85 per cent of the students involved described increased intellectual satisfaction and engagement as a result of the idea
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The body as a unique dataset

Professor Anthony Constantinides, who pioneered the Signal Processing discipline at Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, stated that the technique of engaging students in curiosity-driven learning helped to broaden students’ perspective on research and employment opportunities in next-generation health care.

Professor Mandic’s team will continue to enhance the technique with more data, for example on movement and neural signals. They also noted the need for ethical and privacy considerations in future studies, as well as developing a protocol when data indicates potential health issues in students.

Overall, the study could help to bring biopresence technology into the classroom more widely at both University and late secondary school level.  The approach is now being adopted in UC Berkeley, USA, and University of Lyon, France.

The study could help to bring biopresence technology into the classroom
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To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke 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 and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Using Vital Signs to Solve Complex Equations appeared first on Tech Trends.