N e w s ,
f e a t u r e s
a n d
a n a l y s i s
f o r
i m m e r s i v e
t e c h
a n d
e n t e r p r i s e
m a g a z i n e
w w w. v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
INFORMED IMMERSION Viarama:
BODYWAPS:
Vegas Golden Knights:
A force for good
The sweet spot for
Skates on
soft skills T H E
B U S I N E S S
O F
M A N U FA C T U R E D
R E A L I T I E S
w w w . v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
THE BUSINESS OF MANUFACTURED REALITIES Dedicated to the business of virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, audio sensory experiences and other upcoming innovations within immersive technology, VRWorldTech keeps business leaders and professionals updated with daily news and regular features from across the globe. To subscribe to the weekly VRWorldTech newsletter, follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dunw2v Jonathan Savage, Publisher jonsavage@vrworldtech.com
Mark Dugdale, Editor editor@vrworldtech.com
VRWorldTech
N e w s ,
f e a t u r e s
a n d
a n a l y s i s
f o r
i m m e r s i v e
t e c h
a n d
e n t e r p r i s e
m a g a z i n e
w w w. v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
Published by: Premeditated Media Group Ltd 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden London WC2H 9JQ Editor Mark Dugdale editor@vrworldtech.com
Publisher Jonathan Savage jonsavage@vrworldtech.com
Editorial board
INFORMED IMMERSION Viarama:
BODYWAPS:
Vegas Golden Knights:
A force for good
The sweet spot for
Skates on
soft skills
Jan Pflueger, advisXR Sophia Moshasha, Brightline Interactive
T H E
B U S I N E S S
O F
M A N U FA C T U R E D
R E A L I T I E S
FOLLOW US: Twitter: www.twitter.com/ VRWorldTech
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ virtualrealityworldtech
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ virtual-reality-world-tech
Š 2020 Premeditated Media Group Ltd. All rights in and relating to this publication are expressly reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. The views expressed in VRWorldTech Magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. While the publisher has taken every care in compiling this publication to ensure accuracy at the time of going to press, it does not accept liability or responsibility for errors or omissions therein, however caused.
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
3
MISS THE FIRST EVER ISSUE OF VRWORLDTECH MAGAZINE?
We’ve got you covered: • VRstudios and Zero Latency on location-based entertainment • Mojo Vision, Luxion, Vy, Vobling, Verizon Media and Hyundai on training, invisible computing and more • Interview with VRWorldTech editorial board member Jan Pflueger of advisXR
w w w. v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
EDITOR’S NOTE
Live long and prosper It’s a fact that we’re living longer, thanks to healthier lifestyles and significant improvements in medicine and technology. It’s also a fact that antibiotic resistance, opioid crises and underfunded healthcare systems have emerged. I’m not suggesting that these are inextricably linked. Both—humanity on the whole living longer, as new challenges present themselves—are deeply complicated issues, as much within the remits of the highest offices in politics as they are about how much sugar you put in your preferred hot beverage. The reality is that no single solution exists for any one challenge, just as an answer can serve as a reply to many different questions. Immersive technology has emerged as a serious contender for most compelling medtech—and deliverable solution for healthcare providers and medical issues. In the past month alone, Mojo Vision has positioned its smart contact lens as a medical device for the visually impaired, Embodied Labs has stepped up development of its VR caregiver training platform, Pear Therapeutics and Proprio have strengthened their hands in delivering immersive services to patients and medical professionals, and Nunaps has secured funding for its digital therapeutics platform. All of these developers and solutions are designed to solve complex problems, using VR and AR in the hospital as well as the home.
In this issue of VRWorldTech Magazine, we speak to leaders and experts from Oxford Medical Simulation, AppliedVR, Oxford VR, XRHealth and Precision OS to check the pulse of immersive tech development in healthcare, and we aren’t disappointed. Our focus is on training and digital therapeutics and how VR and AR are already delivering proven treatments and developing seasoned and novice medical professionals efficiently and effectively. Also in this issue, Dr Kimberly Hieftje of play4REAL XR Lab at Yale provides an update on Invite Only VR, a vaping prevention game for young teens. Suffice to say, healthcare will be a topic that we revisit in future issues.
shopping experiences. If you’d like to get involved, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Deadlines and publication dates for all of our 2020 issues are available on our website. That’s all from me. For those wondering how I’m getting on with my new VR headset: it’s the Oculus Quest and yes, I’m loving every minute of it; no, I cannot keep up to the titular beats in Beat Saber; and I can neither confirm nor deny that it’s proven I’m woefully out of shape
We also check in with BODYSWAPS, Danos, Jaguar Land Rover, Viarama and the Vegas Golden Knights to find out how their latest partnerships, product releases and deployments are progressing, what they’ve achieved, and what these brands and developers have in store this year and the next. Since our first issue in October, we’ve also welcomed Sophia Moshasha of Brightline Interactive as the newest member of our editorial board. We’re very excited about working with both Sophia and Jan Pflueger on developing VRWorldTech as a platform for connecting developers and business leaders throughout 2020 and beyond. Speaking of which: our third issue will be out in April. It will focus on immersive tech in retail, a sector that is undergoing rapid evolution as consumers move online and prize ease and convenience in their
VRWORLDTECH.COM
Mark has been a business-tobusiness journalist for a decade. He has edited and written for websites within financial services such as insurance and securities lending, and law, primarily intellectual property, for which he also has a keen interest. He graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA in creative writing. He is an avid reader, particularly of science fiction and fantasy.
Mark Dugdale Editor VRWorldTech
FEBRUARY 2020
5
CONTENTS
In this issue 08 NEWS / TRAINING
14 NEWS / SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
BODYWAPS: The sweet spot for soft skills
Viarama: A force for good
Traditional training is too expensive to scale, while e-learning lacks the core components necessary for behavioural change. Thankfully, VR is just right
From assisting with the education of young people to providing experiences for the elderly and helping to treat conditions such as anxiety, VR can bring joy to those who most need it
12 NEWS / AUTOMOTIVE
18 NEWS / OIL AND GAS
Jaguar Land Rover: Personalised passenger experience
Danos: The workforce of tomorrow
Research into a new immersive heads-up display could lead to ‘smart cabins’ in which vehicle passengers can select their own content and information
6
FEBRUARY 2020
The new VR competency assessment and training programme at Danos is helping the oilfield service provider develop its employees in ways it hasn’t before
CONTENTS
20 NEWS / SPORTS Vegas Golden Knights: Skates on Casual fans and serious athletes alike are able to improve their hockey games in the Vegas Golden Knights’s VR training platform
24 SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE Oxford Medical Simulation, AppliedVR Oxford VR, XRHealth and Precision OS: Informed immersion Immersive technology is making significant strides in training for medical professionals and as a treatment in health and wellness
42 UPDATE / HEALTHCARE Play4REAL XR Lab: Ahead of the game Dr Kimberly Hieftje on how XR can deliver health education in schools
46 INTERVIEW / VISUALISATION Meet: Mechdyne Headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mechdyne Corporation designs and delivers turnkey, large scale 3D/virtual reality solutions
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
7
NEWS / TRAINING
Christophe Mallet, chief executive officer and co-founder of BODYSWAPS
8
FEBRUARY 2020
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech traning archives
NEWS / TRAINING
BODYSWAPS: The sweet spot for soft skills Traditional training is too expensive to scale, while e-learning lacks the core components necessary for behavioural change By Mark Dugdale
L
ondon-based BODYSWAPS isn’t sitting idly by and watching the 4th Industrial Revolution pass without offering solutions to some of its most persistent challenges, most notably automation. Chief executive officer and cofounder Christophe Mallet says the latest industrial revolution is “rapidly shifting the training needs of the global workforce towards soft skills”. Mallet explains: “HR departments have inherited what seems to be a critical as much as impossible mission: transforming workplace
behaviour, at scale, and costefficiently.” Traditional methods such as coaching and roleplay-based workshops continue to “deliver great results for soft skills training”, he explains, but they remain too expensive to scale for an entire workforce. At the same time, e-learning is too passive and its focus on knowledge acquisition means the empathy and practice components required for behavioural change are lacking. He continues: “That seemingly impossible trade-off between the costs of deploying efficient soft skills training and the
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
9
NEWS / TRAINING
Embodied VR soft skills simulations will soon become the gold standard for deploying behavioural training programmes at scale
solutions is what we call the Great Soft Skills challenge.” This is where VR comes in. Through the BODYSWAPS platform, a complete training environment that uses a combination of VR and AI to provide adaptive behavioural change, “we can essentially bring together the learning performance of face-to-face training modalities with the scalability, consistency and trackability of digital solutions”. Mallet says: “Embodied VR soft skills simulations will soon become the gold standard for deploying behavioural training programmes at scale.”
“Delivered face-to-face or as a self-service tool, BODYSWAPS simulates realistic workplace scenarios to let learners role-play with virtual characters using their own voice, explore problematic and challenging situations and learn by swapping bodies to observe their own behaviour.” The proof of the benefits of BODYSWAPS—and VR for soft skills training in general—is in the practice. “The Holy Grail of soft skills training is to transform workplace behaviour,” Mallet says. “By changing individual behaviour at
scale, it aims to make the workplace more fair, collaborative, honest and flexible. This ultimately turns into improved workforce wellbeing, decreased retention rate and overall increased operational performance.” Mallet points to recent academic research, led by Stanford University and the University of Barcelona, which shows progress towards achieving this “extremely ambitious goal”. “[The research] has shown that VR is a very powerful tool to drive behavioural change. Fascinating results include reducing implicit racist bias, transforming subconscious attitude towards homeless people or improving mental health through selfcounselling in VR.” BODYSWAPS is essentially building on this research and best practices in adult learning to bring this impact to corporate training.
Image: Safeguarding VR is a training app for aid workers to practice having conversations with survivors of safeguarding incidents. Credit: BODYSWAPS
10
FEBRUARY 2020
Mallet says: “In VR, we allow learners to be themselves, to practice difficult conversations and to reverse roles to be impacted by themselves. This is a learning format that works extremely well as it fuels
NEWS / TRAINING
Image: Safeguarding VR is currently being piloted by two UN agencies and a number of non-governmental organisations. Credit: BODYSWAPS
behavioural change with empathetic practice and self-reflection.” “Our most recent BODYSWAPS project, developed in partnership with the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, is Safeguarding VR: a safeguarding training app for aid workers to practice having conversations with survivors of safeguarding incidents. It’s currently being piloted by two UN agencies and a number of non-governmental organisations. Our data to date shows a strong improvement in both understanding of safeguarding principles and confidence to apply them. We are looking to roll this out to many more organisations in 2020.” Data and analytics are key to the success of BODYSWAPS, for learners and organisations, according to Mallet. He continues: “We are capturing behavioural data using VR analytics, semantic data via a natural language understanding AI engine and selfassessed performance reports from learners. This allows us to give the learner a ‘virtual coach’, which provides them with hyperpersonalised recommendations on how to improve.”
“In the longer-term, once deployed at scale, we will provide organisations with a behavioural map of their workforce. In an increasingly automated world, performance is becoming a function of human behaviour. By mapping behaviour, we can predict performance and inform strategic decisions. This will make BODYSWAPS not just a training platform but a powerful engine of organisational strategy insights.” Mallet adds that individual behavioural data is never made available to employers, which instead only have access to aggregated data. He says: “BODYSWAPS is meant to be a safe space for learners to become better colleagues and managers and ultimately unlock their human potential. It’s very important for our industry to be mindful of not creating another layer of individual tracking.”
iteration of the BODYSWAPS platform, with a pack of simulations called ‘Workplace Communication Essentials’. “Think of it as a communication skills bootcamp to bump up every employee’s competency around things like active listening, clear communication or gender inclusivity,” Mallet says. “The platform will be available via Oculus Quest for Business and the Vive Focus+ on a simple licence basis.” “We have no doubt that embodied interactive VR is the future of soft skills. But there’s a long road ahead and in 2020 we will be looking for innovative partners to go on that journey with us. You know where to find us!” Head over to the BODYSWAPS website to find out more about its potential in soft skills training.
This year, Mallet and his team will publish the first public-access
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
11
NEWS / AUTOMOTIVE
Jaguar Land Rover:
Personalised passenger experience
T
he next-generation head-up display (HUD) research being undertaken by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Jaguar Land Rover forms part of the automotive manufacturer’s development of the ‘Smart Cabin’ of the future.
Demonstration of the HUD in a Jaguar. Credit: Jaguar Land Rover
Research into a new immersive heads-up display could lead to ‘smart cabins’ in which vehicle passengers can select their own content and information By Mark Dugdale
12
FEBRUARY 2020
Jaguar Land Rover is undertaking the research in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) at the University of Cambridge, with the aim of developing an immersive HUD.
Jaguar Land Rover is a lead partner in the CAPE consortium, responsible for testing a range of HUD features, according to a spokesperson for the automotive manufacturer. CAPE “is already a leader in the development of VR and AR technologies, and this consortium project aims to take some of the very best technology available to use and helps us to develop applications suited to the automotive sector”. The partners envision the 3D head-up display projecting safety alerts, detected hazards and sat-nav directions, and helping to reduce the effect of poor visibility in poor weather or light conditions. AR would add the perception of depth to the image by mapping the messages directly onto the road ahead, according to Jaguar Land Rover. They also want passengers to be able to watch 3D movies, with head- and eye-tracking technology following their position to ensure they can see 3D pictures without the need for individual screens or headgear. 3D displays could also offer users a personalised experience and allow ridesharers to independently select their own content.
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech healthcare archives
NEWS / AUTOMOTIVE
Demonstration of the HUD in a Land Rover. Credit: Jaguar Land Rover
Several passengers sharing a journey would be able to enjoy their own choice of media, optimised for where they are sat. A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover explains the technology’s development, which is still ongoing: “In this early iteration of the technology, engineers are using the technology to project safety alerts, such as lane departure, hazard detection and sat nav directions directly onto the road ahead. So, potential safety benefits are certainly paramount in developing the technology.” “However, the next-generation headup display research also forms part of Jaguar Land Rover’s development of the ‘Smart Cabin’ of the future. A series of technologies which combine to create a personalised space inside the vehicle for driver and passengers with enhanced safety, entertainment and convenience features; designed to help prepare for autonomous and shared mobility. Already, Jaguar Land Rover vehicles are equipped with Level 2 autonomous driving capability, and the company is working with governments and partners to help navigate the road to Level 5 vehicle autonomy.” The spokesperson continues: “As we move towards a world in which autonomous ride-sharing is commonplace, entertaining passengers will also become a primary focus for vehicle manufacturers and technology companies alike. By replacing the traditional screen with a display that is relative to the passenger’s position in the cabin, passengers can enjoy a more intimate, personalised experience which in a shared mobility future, will allow ride-sharers to select their own
By replacing the traditional screen with a display that is relative to the passenger’s position in the cabin, passengers can enjoy a more intimate, personalised experience
infotainment, independent of other users.” to make real human connections.
- Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson
“The role of technology in our society is rapidly evolving— becoming one that’s more focused on bringing us closer to the people and the world around us, eyes-up and hands-free.”
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
13
NEWS / SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Image: Viarama goes into nursing homes, hospices, respite centres and hospitals to improve quality of life. Credit: Viarama
Viarama: A force for good From assisting with the education of young people to providing experiences for the elderly and helping to treat conditions such as anxiety, VR can bring joy to those who most need it By Mark Dugdale
14
FEBRUARY 2020
S
cotland-based VR social enterprise Viarama has witnessed first-hand the real benefits that VR can bring to people of all ages and levels of physical ability. Launched in 2015, Viarama was created to use VR as a force for good in communities, says its chief executive, Billy Agnew. The social enterprise takes the technology into schools, nursing homes, hospices, respite centres and hospitals to improve quality of life. As Agnew says: “In the thousands of sessions we have made possible, we’ve shared laughter, tears, and given real joy to many people and their families.” In hospices, Viarama allows patients to travel, “to revisit places of real significance in their lives or to go somewhere they never thought they would have the chance to see”, Agnew explains.
“We’ve witnessed some deeply moving and poignant sessions where people receiving palliative care have gone to their favourite beach one last time, or revisited their honeymoon destination, or a cherished childhood home.” “One lady we worked with in a hospice recently was 101 years old. She was brought up in Darjeeling and hadn’t seen her childhood home for more than 90 years. When we took her back there in VR and let her see her old school, her house, and the beautiful rolling hills she would explore as a young girl—well, you can imagine what that meant to her. We’re very fortunate to be able to share that with people and it’s an aspect of our work we’re very proud of.” With access to hardware and adoption of VR being big challenges for many developers, as a HTC Vive survey of
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech healthcare archives
NEWS / SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
We need to continue to capture hearts and minds by creating and establishing best practice in all of the areas where VR is used
more than 1,800 respondents revealed last year, Agnew is of the view that best practice needs to be established to gain mainstream acceptance for immersive tech. He says: “Understanding of the many possible uses of VR is increasing rapidly, but there is still a long way to go before the technology achieves mainstream acceptance and understanding. We need to continue to capture hearts and minds by creating and establishing best practice in all of the areas where VR is used.” “There are a great many unsung heroes and heroines out there who have contributed greatly to the perception of VR in the public consciousness. We need to continue to do this good work, hopefully with the support of the manufacturers of the technology and those in the tech industry at large.” Agnew notes the advances being made in hardware development and their potential for boosting access and increasing adoption. He says: “We were recently given a new Vive Cosmos headset to use in our work in hospices, courtesy of HTC. This we use predominantly in hospices, and the inside-out tracking it features has been a real help to our
Billy Agnew, chief executive of Viarama
work at bedsides and other difficult situations. Not having to setup lighthouses makes it so much easier!” “The Quest is a great headset and we have used it in a variety of other situations, such as education of large numbers of pupils simultaneously. We are keen to work with more manufacturers as different use-cases often need different headsets.” In 2020, Viarama has two projects in the pipeline that Agnew is particularly excited about.
He says: “We are soon to start using VR within the justice system in the UK to help young offenders in the first instance. We’ve seen how schoolchildren in both mainstream and special needs or alternative schools have taken to VR, and to be able to help young offenders using the technology will be wonderful.” “Another big project we can talk about is our collaboration with Queen Margaret University to use VR to train paramedics as part of their highly innovative new course. We’ll use VR to introduce students to difficult and challenging situations in a safe and effective manner which will significantly improve their ability to understand the issues they may face in real life incidents.” “Our goal next year is to continue to use VR to help a wide variety of people, while training and employing many more young people in the process.” Head over to the Viarama website to find out more about the social enterprise’s work.
Image: Billy Agnew, chief executive of Viarama, takes VR into schools to work with young people . Credit: Viarama
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
15
THE BUSINESS OF M A N U FA C T U R E D REALITIES w w w. v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
VRWorldTech is a must-read resource if you want to stay up-todate on progress within immersive technology. Our content sits between the technology’s creators and developers and the business leaders who can benefit from its use and application. We cover the stories that make immersive technology a reality.
NEWS / OIL AND GAS
Danos: The workforce of tomorrow The new VR competency assessment and training programme at Danos is helping the oilfield service provider develop its employees in ways it hasn’t before By Mark Dugdale
Image: A separator control panel. In the VR module, this is where operators perform panel functions required to test safety devices on the test separator. Credit: Danos
18
FEBRUARY 2020
V
R training is reducing risk, saving costs and developing the workforce of tomorrow for a family-owned and managed oilfield service provider.
through the use of VR. VR requires less transportation for both the trainee and the trainer, it reduces time away from work, and it improves training outcomes.”
Danos, which was founded in 1947 and today has 3,000 employees, began developing a VR competency assessment and training programme for its workforce in late 2018. It was fully implemented in December 2019.
He continues: “From a risk perspective, VR makes impacts in two key areas. First, it eliminates entirely the transportation exposure from having employees going back and forth to training locations. One of the biggest hazards in our landbased operations is road travel. VR takes people off the roads.”
The programme uses VR software and headsets so employees can see a job site and virtually perform tasks. Training and assessment can take place at a Danos or customer office rather than involving travel offshore or to a job site. Eric Danos, owner and executive over human resources, finance, safety and land, explains the cost and risk benefits of the new programme: “Typical training costs consist of course costs, per diem, lodging, mileage and wages. In addition, one of the most significant costs for the offshore oil and gas industry is transportation to and from the facility, often by helicopter. Another cost that people do not often consider is lost production when our best employees are removed from their work to be trained.” “All of these costs are substantially reduced or in some cases eliminated
“The second significant reduction in risk comes through better trained employees who are more capable of doing their work effectively. In VR, employees virtually walk through and perform job tasks from beginning to end before ever stepping into the real work environment. Tasks can be repeated, and variables can be manipulated to simulate different factors. When employees do engage the physical task after virtual simulation, they are much better prepared to work safely.” Eric Danos says the oilfield service operator is using technology to sit alongside different types of traditional training. “When used appropriately, VR improves the outcome of traditional, stand-alone led training,” he explains. “There are places for
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech traning archives
NEWS / OIL AND GAS
VR allows students to interact with equipment and the way that equipment functions, like seeing the internal fluid dynamics of a virtual vessel during operation
instructor led training, VR, AR and computer-based training. Research suggests that computer-based training is most effective for short, non-complex training. VR is better in a complex environment. VR allows students to interact with equipment and the way that equipment functions, like seeing the internal fluid dynamics of a virtual vessel during operation.”
Image: A test separator, where the operators demonstrate skills. For example, they can test level safety devices, replace a turbine meter using a lock out tag out skill and change an orifice plate on a gas meter. Credit: Danos
Eric Danos, owner and executive over human resources, finance, safety and land at Danos
On top of a reduction in risk and costs, the VR training programme also makes the oilfield service provider a more attractive employer to younger generations considering a career in the oil and gas industry. Eric Danos says: “Millennials learn differently than baby boomers. They are comfortable with these technologies and embrace them. New employees coming into our workforce relate to what we are creating.” Danos is now considering the deployment of immersive technology elsewhere in its business, following
its introduction through workforce training. Eric Danos explains: “We are using it [VR] to train and assess the workforce of tomorrow. We are also exploring the technology in ways we didn’t imagine at first, like improving public speaking. Augmented reality solutions are being tested for remote assistance which allows employees at a worksite to engage with experts anywhere in the world. This on-demand access to information and support is significantly changing the way we think about work.”
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
19
NEWS / SPORTS
20
FEBRUARY 2020
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech sports archives
NEWS / SPORTS
Vegas Golden Knights: Skates on Casual fans and serious athletes alike are able to improve their hockey games in the Vegas Golden Knights’s VR training platform By Mark Dugdale
Image: VGK VR platform, featuring broadcasters Shane Hnidy and Stormy Buonantony. Credit: Vegas Golden Knights
T
he new VR platform at the City National Arena practice facility of the National Hockey League (NHL) team the Vegas Golden Knights is proving a boon for casual fans and serious athletes alike—and is even helping children to become more confident. VGK VR, powered by Czech Republic-based VR software company Sense Arena and launched toward the end of 2019, offers several different settings and simulations for hockey players of all skill levels. Participants that are 11 and older are able to practice passing, shooting and timing while improving their overall game awareness. Brian Killingsworth, chief marketing officer at the Golden Knights, was impressed with VGK VR’s broad user appeal. He says: “It allows the casual fan to see what it is like to shoot a puck on a goalie or receive a pass, but it can also help serious athletes work on their cognitive abilities. City National Arena is really a community centre and so that is why it is so great to have VR because it really provides something for everyone.”
“It also helps kids gain the confidence that they can actually play hockey. Some younger children don’t think they can get out there and play but they have the confidence to try the VR without skates. They have so much fun that it gives them the confidence to get out on the ice and try the real thing. We see it as a bridge from video games to actual playing in one of our Learn to Play programmes.” The Golden Knights were the first NHL team to implement VR training in their practice facility. Killingsworth was introduced to the technology while at American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers He says: “I personally used VR technology at my previous stop with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We were the first to utilise the VR training as a teaching tool for kids learning to play quarterback. We had the chance to see Sense Arena at CES and I knew it would be a great partnership right off the bat. We always want to push the limits here with the Vegas Golden Knights so being able to be the first NHL team with VR training in our practice facility was something we were keen on doing.”
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
21
NEWS / SPORTS
It is a tremendous immersive environment in that it is extremely reactive to stick angle and the finer nuances of the sport
Brian Killingsworth, chief marketing officer for the Vegas Golden Knights
Sense Arena, headquartered in Prague and with North American headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, offers VR training for hockey at installations in five countries The platform that Sense Arena has developed for the Golden Knights contains more than 80 drills created by hockey professionals and configurable for all ages and levels. The drills are specifically designed to develop the cognitive and mental aspects of the game and uses proprietary algorithms to provide immediate performance feedback and recommendations. Speaking in November 2019,
22
FEBRUARY 2020
Bob Tetiva, founder and chief executive officer of Sense Arena, said of the platform and partnership: “We are thrilled to cooperate with the Vegas Golden Knights to bring our state-of-theart brain training platform to their practice facility.” “Virtual Reality is a proven training tool in many industries and sports and we are excited to bring it to the world of hockey. The Golden Knights are our first NHL installation and we know they will bring tremendous attention to how player evaluation, development and rehabilitation can be improved and enjoyed by players who
have at least basic stick handling skills.” Killingworth has a lot of praise for Sense Arena and the role it played as partner to the Golden Knights. He says: “Sense Arena is the expert on the VR side so we really let them run with that. We worked together on branding the space so it would be visually appealing and fit with our brand, but other than that we let them drive the platform. It is a tremendous immersive environment in that it is extremely reactive to stick angle and the finer nuances of the sport.”
,
w w w . v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m Magazine
:3
Retail How is immersive technology enhancing the online shopping experience? And how is it creating a compelling customer journey in Dedicated to the business of virtual reality, brick and mortar stores? augmented reality, mixed reality, audio sensory experiences and other upcoming innovations within immersive technology, VRWorldTech keeps business leaders and professionals updated with daily news and regular features from across the globe.
The third issue of VRWorldTech Magazine will examine the role that immersive technology To subscribe to the weekly VRWorldTech newsletter, is playing in making the retail experience an interactive one, online and in the real world. follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dunw2v Jonathan Savage, Publisher jonsavage@vrworldtech.com
Mark Dugdale, Editor editor@vrworldtech.com
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Image: Credit: AppliedVR
24
FEBRUARY 2020
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech healthcare archives
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Informed immersion Immersive technology is making significant strides in training for medical professionals and as a treatment in health and wellness By Mark Dugdale
T
here are many ways that virtual reality (VR) can be applied in healthcare. From training young medical professionals to aiding surgeons during complicated surgery through visualisation or even robotics. But where is immersive tech really excelling right now, and what is it achieving for patients and medical professionals alike? First of all, it’s important to understand what VR can’t achieve. Dr Jack Pottle, Chief Medical Officer at Oxford Medical Simulation (OMS), which develops training scenarios for healthcare professionals, explains that a huge part of his company’s role is education, and discussing the views and often misconceptions that institutions have about immersive tech. He says: “Healthcare is a slow moving, conservative beast at times, so we have
Immersive tech healthcare market in brief •
VR and AR could have a “huge” impact on healthcare over the next 10 years, with PwC predicting a $350.9 billion potential boost to the global economy by 2030
•
PwC also predicts that immersive technology could make a significant difference in front-line patient care and training
•
Persistence Market Research believes the global healthcare VR and AR market could experience an exceptionally high compound annual growth rate of 49.1% between 2018 and 2026
VRWORLDTECH.COM
•
This could take the market’s value to more than $15 billion by the second half of this decade
FEBRUARY 2020
25
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
to teach our clients about VR; specifically, what it can and cannot do. But we also have to listen to what they know already, so we can really understand what they’re looking for and then cater to their needs.” The misconceptions around VR aren’t helped by the differing definitions of VR in the past. Newcomers may have seen screen-based simulation marketed as ‘VR’, and so have been disillusioned with what they were told was ‘VR’ previously. Similarly, 360-degree video is often marketed as VR—“and rightly,” says Pottle— but it offers a different educational experience than the simulation scenarios that OMS develops. The trick is to let newcomers try the VR simulation scenarios for themselves,
Image: Oxford Medical Simulation develops life-like VR training simulations for medical trainees new to healthcare and seasoned professionals on a path of continuous development. Credit: OMS
Pottle says, and discover the benefits for personal, professional and institutional development. “The benefits of VR depend on what you’re trying to teach,” Pottle says. “There’s a danger of seeing VR as the solution to all of your problems— it’s not. VR isn’t going to replace training for every medical procedure, for example. It just wouldn’t work right now—the haptics aren’t yet good enough. However, VR is a great solution for how to improve clinical decision-making, critical thinking, clinical reasoning and performance under pressure. When you break down it in terms of ‘what learning objectives are you trying to achieve’, the benefits of VR become clearer.”
Everything we do for the learner sets out to improve their confidence and performance, and in turn, improve patient care Dr Jack Pottle, chief medical Officer at Oxford Medical Simulation
26
FEBRUARY 2020
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Evidence-backed immersive tech A significant body of research exists that validates immersive tech such as VR as a tool for training and treating patients with various conditions. Here is a small sample of the studies carried out so far:
OMS develops life-like VR training simulations for medical trainees new to healthcare and seasoned professionals on a path of continuous development. The London- and Boston-based company delivers simulation globally, including at Oxford University where it is used to train medical students and doctors. Its VR system is being used at the Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research (OxSTaR) centre based at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. From their base at the main teaching hospital for Oxford University Medical School, students are using Oculus headsets to access libraries of medical emergencies that allow them to simulate the treatment of a range of conditions
•
‘Simulation-based medical teaching and learning’; Abdulmohsen H. Al-Elq
•
‘Virtual reality lead extraction as a method for training new physicians: a pilot study’; Maytin M, Daily TP and Carillo RG
such as sepsis, heart attacks, diabetic emergencies, seizures and anaphylaxis.
•
‘Development and evaluation of a trauma decision-making simulator in Oculus virtual reality’;
Oxford University decided to employ VR for medical training in order to help more students get through the simulation aspect of their studies.
•
Harrington CM, Kavanagh DO, Quinlan JF, Ryan D, Dicker P, O’Keeffe D, Traynor O and Tierney S
•
‘Differentiation of mild cognitive impairment using an entorhinal cortex-based test of virtual reality navigation’; Howett D, Castegnaro A, Krzywicka K, Hagman J, Marchment D, Henson R, Rio M, King JA, Burgess N and Chan D
•
‘Economic analysis of implementing virtual reality therapy for pain among hospitalized patients’; Delshad SD, Almario CV, Fuller G, Luong D and Spiegel BMR
Pottle says that training in VR is ideal for students for several reasons. He explains: “Everything we do for the learner sets out to improve their confidence and performance, and in turn, improve patient care. The learners really see and understand that, so their engagement with our simulations isn’t based on gamification as such, it’s based on that ability to improve their performance. Learners want to repeat the scenarios so they can become better at treating patients.”
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
27
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
The thing that we can’t get in the operating room that we can do with VR is deliberate practice and productive failure
Dr Danny Goel, founder and chief executive officer of Precision OS
Pottle continues: “Learners also react well to our VR scenarios because they feel real. VR allows them to get quality clinical experience, anytime they want, without being watched by their peers. So there is less pressure, they can make mistakes and have the freedom to go back and improve their performance. Practicing like this is something that people outside of healthcare likely take for granted, but as a healthcare professional we’re not able to learn through practice without being with a real patient or going through physical simulation with mannequins or actors. And medical professionals don’t get enough experience with physical simulation because it’s very resource-, labourand space-intensive.” “At OMS we pride ourselves on building realistic scenarios from our clinical experience and the
28
FEBRUARY 2020
latest evidence. We have world class artists and animators, have character artificial intelligence to simulate realistic patient behaviour, and unwellness systems that make
patients look sick. These are things we can’t do through physical training. We build in dynamic physiology to reflect the effects of medications, and build environments that you can’t replicate in the real world.” For institutions, the benefits of training in VR span cost,
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
standardisation and professional competency.
Image: The platform offers metric feedback to help users improve their techniques. Credit: Precision OS
Pottle says: “There is a need to improve quality and be able to prove that to patients and the broader public. As a result, a lot of institutions are investing in physical simulation, which is the gold standard for training doctors and nurses. It involves simulation scenarios with mannequins and often very high-tech and expensive equipment there. It’s very difficult to apply broadly because it’s so resource-intensive.” “Institutions are now looking at VR as a way of developing that same model of training, which is immersive and interactive, and which engages medical trainees on an emotional level.” “This engagement and the ability to apply the same level of stress in a simulation as in the real word, helps that learning translate to practice.” VR for medical training frees up these resources, Pottle says. “Training is no longer a facultydriven, day-long event. It’s now just like going to the gym. Think of a professional sports person. You’d expect them to practice and train in their own time, to be at their best on match day. It should be the same with healthcare. We should be practicing as often as possible to provide the best care to our patients.”
Image: Precision’s software allows practicing surgeons to perform simulated medical procedures in a realistic digital operating room. Credit: Precision OS
It’s with these benefits in mind that NHS England partnered with OMS in 2019 to allow doctors in the South England to practice in diabetes emergencies in VR. In the East of England, Health Education England rolled out VR training across 18 NHS trusts, which deliver aspects of the UK’s public healthcare system in specific geographical areas. This creates the potential for scale in terms of cost and resources, but also standardisation. Pottle says: “An organisation with 18 trusts can make sure that every participating medical professional receives the same training up to the required standard. The organisation is able to see all of the performance metrics that those learners and receive a huge amount of data about how they are performing. There’s then the potential to scale that further if you’re looking more towards healthcare education on a global level.”
He adds: “With training in VR, you can really tease out where users are struggling, which is great for the learner, but also for institutions, because they can then provide the learner with extra support. This is not about criticism. It’s about acknowledging flaws and then providing training that works better for the individual. Some organisations are using OMS for exactly that purpose, to help users who are returning to training after time off, and making sure that they have the competence and the confidence to be able to go back in and improve.” OMS has also learned how to improve VR delivery on an institutional level. Pottle says: “Users need agency and to be able to learn from their mistakes. But at the institutional level, integration and implementation are just as important. How do they it in practice? Can they do it differently? We can therefore
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
29
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
take on more of a consultative role to make sure institutions are getting the best out of the OMS system, and then constant iterating with institutions to find improvements. There’s always a danger of just focusing on the VR, but integration and usability are just as important.” Concluding, Pottle underlines the importance of giving medical professionals the opportunity to train in a pressure-free environment, an idea that the healthcare industry is slowly coming round to. He says: “Part of the genesis of OMS was that training is hard for doctors and nurses. When I was a junior doctor, there were times when I was terrified—I remember just freezing
30
FEBRUARY 2020
and not knowing what to do. Medical school gives you all the knowledge, but very little help regarding how to put it into clinical practice. There is an assumption that you’ll learn on the job, but that leaves no room for the kinds of mistakes that you need to be able to make. As medical error is now a leading cause of death worldwide, there’s finally an acknowledgement that learning on the job is not OK” “And it’s the ability of VR to fill that gap between what you’re taught and what you actually need to know that is one of it’s great strengths.” One immersive tech company cognizant of the challenges inherent
in training medical professionals is Vancouver-based Precision OS, which proved the value of its platform with the receipt of accreditation from a professional development provider of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada for its orthopaedic surgery VR training platform. Precision’s software allows practicing surgeons to perform simulated medical procedures in a realistic digital operating room and offers metric feedback to help users improve their techniques. Orthopedic surgeons in Canada
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
must undertake continuing medical education (CME) throughout their careers to demonstrate competency. The accreditation means that they can now train in VR using Precision’s platform. Dr Danny Goel, founder and chief executive officer of Precision, says: “The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada wanted to see a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the simulation, in conjunction with a curriculum that makes sense.”
Goel explains: “I see patients on a regular basis, as well as teach residents and fellows. As a surgeon and educator I understand that the operating room is not an ideal scenario to teach somebody how to use an implant or to learn about the countless variety of cases. It’s a stressful place, and that impacts learning performance.”
“It’s a big milestone. It’s extremely difficult to get CME by a governing body in North America. It is a testament to the quality and depth of the education delivered through VR, and the impact of that education. It’s a massive validation of our technology.”
“The thing that we can’t get in the operating room that we can do with VR is deliberate practice and productive failure. It allows the student to make mistakes, understand their limitations, repeat until they overcome them and become proficient and gain additional confidence. The reality of surgery is also that every case presents something unique. It’s important to embed the reality of anatomy in the simulation and understand that there’s an actual patient behind the drapes. It’s also important to understand that the medical device industry makes a difference in the OR, and they have their unique training needs, too.”
This validation of VR as a training tool reflects the widely accepted difficulty inherent in both teaching medical professionals and giving them room to learn.
Like Pottle, Goel believes that “VR in healthcare is gaining momentum and new applications like ours are proving value to residents, surgeons and medical device companies”.
“They wanted to verify that simulation creates significant value for the surgeon by building proficiency, competency and a higher standard of care for the patient.”
Image: Precision has accreditation from a professional development provider of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada for its orthopaedic surgery VR training platform. Credit: Precision OS
He says: “One of the biggest hurdles was the fact that it was computerbased in the past, so it was tethered and much more cumbersome. Now, we’ve made a big transition to mobile VR, which speaks to the
time, convenience and efficiency that everybody is so accustomed to now.” Goel adds: “The other thing that’s not necessarily a barrier, but might be holding things back is that there needs to be more research done. There are some studies out there that have shown the value of VR training, but I’d like to see more high-quality and true validation done with extremely robust methodology. The medical community can always use more validation of the science, and evidence of the real impact VR makes on skill acquisition towards true patient outcomes.” “Lastly, for medical device companies, the need to educate surgeons and reps on the latest implants is crucial. However, education through the traditional approach or through virtual reality, is an expense. Proving the return on this investment is a critical missing piece in this ecosystem. We as an industry need to continue to refine the business case behind this technology to recruit more believers in VR. It makes educational sense, but also needs to make financial sense given the capital intense costs of development. Where immersive tech is also excelling is as a tool for boosting health and wellness London-based Oxford VR (OVR) is developing leading-edge VR-enabled therapy, building on almost two decades of clinical research by
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
31
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Daniel Freeman, professor of clinical psychology at Oxford University, and chief clinical officer and co-founder of the spinoff. Its mission is to “try and get the best psychological treatments to as many people as possible”, according to OVR chief executive officer Barnaby Perks. “Our automated immersive VR therapy translates powerful psychological treatment through immersive VR environments.” The potential of VR to treat mental health conditions in patients is gaining traction in scientific circles, dispelling any doubts as to is efficacy. Perks says: “VR therapy is transforming the mental healthcare experience. A 2019 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found those who used VR therapy were more likely to complete and maintain treatment than those who didn’t.
32
FEBRUARY 2020
Image: OVR’s fear of heights clinical trial for acrophobia showed huge potential for VR as a treatment. Credit: Oxford VR
Many individuals report finding VR therapy enjoyable and even fun to do.” “In our fear of heights clinical trial for acrophobia, there was an average reduction of 68%—which is huge clinical proof that VR therapy works and double the rate expected for traditional therapy. This clinical trial was published in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2018. These outcomes have since been replicated in routine real-time clinical use in the UK’s NHS. The study also showed VR therapy’s potential to treat a wide spectrum of mental health conditions from phobias to complex and chronic mental health problems, too.” “If we’re serious about addressing the mental health gap, we need to let
go of the idea that therapy can only be done face-to-face. VR therapy is a high-quality treatment that is automated without the need for scarce therapist resources.” OVR’s therapies, which it’s testing through the Yes I Can initiative in Asia in partnership with insurance company AXA and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as with the National Mental Health Innovation Center in the US and the NHS in the UK, are able to treat a range of mental health conditions. Perks says: “Mental health problems are inseparable from the environment. For example, if you have a fear of heights, it’s walking near heights, if you have a fear of spiders, it’s being near spiders.
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE In more severe mental health conditions such as depression and psychosis, social avoidance is a common feature.” “Recovery in mental health is about thinking, reacting and behaving differently in situations that trigger your symptoms. The most successful treatments are those that enable people to make such changes in realworld situations.” “The virtual reality environment both gives people reassurance they can try out new things and they’re not in any real danger, but it’s enough to trigger the symptoms of their phobia.” He adds: “During VR therapy, individuals put on a headset and enter VR simulations of the difficult
situations and environments that trigger their symptoms. Throughout their treatment programme, they’re asked to complete several different tasks that are graded in difficulty and are coached on the appropriate responses.” “We work with people who have a lived experience of different mental health conditions to help to design treatment programmes to ensure they are engaging, entertaining and as easy to navigate as possible using gamification technology.” Los Angeles-headquartered AppliedVR is using VR to develop treatments for medical issues such as pain by, first and foremost, building
a solid foundation of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of its immersive tech. Co-founder and chief executive officer Matthew Stoudt says: “It all starts with making sure VR therapy is science-based. As an evidence-based company, we’re working with some of the leading medical organisations in the US, including the National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Cancer Institute (NCI). These federal organisations are funding a variety of clinical studies for us. We’re also working with leading hospital systems, such as Cedars-Sinai, a not-for-profit hospital in Los Angeles, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where we conduct many of our foundational studies.”
Barnaby Perks, chief executive officer of Oxford VR
If we’re serious about addressing the mental health gap, we need to let go of the idea that therapy can only be done face-to-face
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
33
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
VR is unique as a digital therapeutic. With the right therapeutic content, VR can snap someone out of a moment of crisis Matthew Stoudt, co-founder and chief executive officer of AppliedVR
NIDA recently awarded more than $2.9 million in funding to AppliedVR to support clinical trials on VR as a therapeutic alternative for acute and chronic pain. The grants will enable AppliedVR to advance two clinical trial programmes with Geisinger and Cleveland Clinic, studying two of its platforms, RelieVRx and EaseVRx. AppliedVR has completed or is in the process of running more than 30 clinical studies to date. Its VR platforms have treated more than 30,000 patients in more than 200 hospitals across 10 countries, on multiple continents. But it’s in the US where there is a pressing need for alternative pain management treatments.
34
FEBRUARY 2020
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
The opioid epidemic is a significant problem for the US’s already complicated healthcare system, says Stoudt. “The US accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but we consume 85% of the world’s opioids. Taking opioids for a single day results in a 6% chance of addiction in one year; taking them for one week results in a 15% chance; and on a month’s course results in a 50% chance of addiction. [In 2018] alone there were more than 70,000 deaths attributed to the opioid epidemic. This is a massive problem and so the US healthcare system is looking for alternatives.” Using VR for pain management is far from new. In the early 1990s, Hunter Hoffman, a researcher at the University of Washington, along with other scientists learned that pain can be diminished if a patient’s attention can be redirected. “If you can interrupt the person’s focus on the pain and place cognitive load on the brain, you can in a sense intercept and impede that signal going from the source to the pain receptors and get that person to feel less pain,” Stoudt explains. The problem then was that the technology cost tens of thousands of dollars and was
Credit: AppliedVR
impractical to administer anywhere but in a laboratory. Stoudt says: “Advancements in the form factor have really started to unleash the power of VR to address pain at scale and hospitals are recognising it. In California, [not-for-profit hospital performance reporting organisation] Cal Hospital Compare is designating hospitals as ‘opioid safe’ if they meet certain standards and guidelines, one of which is the implementation of VR therapy for pain management.” Stoudt says: “It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ therapeutic VR is effective. It’s a question of when and how we implement it. What are the protocols and dosing? How do we standardise it and make it a true standard of care? Three years ago, there was an awareness of it. We’re now at the point of rapid adoption in healthcare.”
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
35
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Image: Luna, a VR AI therapist that eases hot flashes. Credit: XRHealth
While AppliedVR’s work to demonstrate the efficacy of VR as an alternative for pain management continues, the company is also keen to show its economic value. Pointing to Europe, where there isn’t an opioid epidemic of the kind being experienced in the US, nonpharmacological pain management alternatives are already compelling. “Take Germany. They recently acknowledged they will reimburse for digital therapeutics, and broadly speaking, VR is an enhanced form of that. To benefit from reimbursement, you have to to demonstrate economic value. And so we have to make sure that we always keep that in mind. Everyone knows that VR works for pain management. There’s no question about the science. It’s now about demonstrating that economic value.” There is a further need for exploration in issues linked to pain, such as anxiety and depression. AppliedVR is collaborating with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to evaluate VR as a solution to help address the underlying anxiety often experienced by many patients with terminal cancer. This study will evaluate AppliedVR’s VR system on neuro-oncology patients’ ‘scanxiety’, a term used to describe the anxiety patients with cancer experience before or after medical diagnostics scans.
36
FEBRUARY 2020
Stoudt explains: “Pain issues, whether acute or chronic, are associated with behavioural health issues, such as anxiety. The more anxious you are about pain, the more you’re going to feel it.” “VR is unique as a digital therapeutic. As opposed to app-based digital therapeutics, VR can have an immediate impact. With the right therapeutic content, VR can snap someone out of a moment of crisis. This means we can make both an immediate impact, then create space to drive longer term change from a behavioural health perspective. As big as VR is in pain management, I think you will see as big an opportunity in this area.” Of course, AppliedVR and Stoudt don’t believe that it’s viable for a person to put on a VR headset every time they experience a moment of
crisis. He says: “It’s as much about teaching sufferers the skills they need to cope with anxiety and pain as it is about addressing the acute onset of an issue.” “What’s unique about VR is its ability to create an empathetic connection between a person’s mind and what’s going on inside their body. We demonstrated this in a study on hypertension, through a VR programme we developed in partnership with Cedars Sinai that focused on reducing salt intake and improving nutrition. We created a holistic program that provided education and coping skills. We educated the participants about the impact of salt on the body by taking them inside their cardiovascular system to ‘feel’ what varying levels of salt in their diet were doing to their body. We created that empathetic connection between
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
Image: Re-act is a cognitive training game, providing personal health data through precision measurements of processing speed, attention and decision making processes. Credit: XRHealth
mind and body. If you can connect to someone at this level, you have an increased chance of driving that positive behaviour change.” Going forward, AppliedVR’s objective is to drive the mass adoption of VR therapy, with a device in every home, hospital and clinic, ultimately around the world. Stoudt says: “Once we achieve that, we essentially have built out a therapeutic VR pharmacy in every home that can deliver this next generation of digital medicine and benefit the entire family. And it opens up the market for other therapeutic VR developers to distribute their validated interventions.”
There is much work to do before mass adoption becomes a reality, however. Stoudt explains: “It starts with going into hospitals where we can build credibility with the providers, through the demonstration of clinical efficacy. Then it becomes a question of establishing the protocols and helping providers understand how often they need to administer VR as a treatment. We’ve been working on developing those protocols with our partners so that they can replicate this at scale.” “When we go into a hospital today, we’re still at the early stages of
adoption. We start in individual departments before we expand across the hospital as a whole. We take a consultative approach to build awareness and demonstrate value ultimately enabling broader adoption.” Getting VR therapy into homes is a long-term aim, Stoudt says, with ease of use, engagement and efficacy the chief areas of focus. Ease of use is an important area, because, Stoudt concedes, already overworked and overwhelmed healthcare professionals and
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
37
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
providers aren’t going to deploy technology that’s too complicated. “We started off with the Samsung Gear, because of the ease of use,” Stoudt says. “With tethered headsets, the developers worried too much about the fidelity of VR, but not the workflow design of it. When we first came in to hospitals, we did so with what we identified as best in class technology and we were able to get pretty good adoption during what I’d consider to be very early-stage mobile headsets.” “When we go back to hospitals where we’ve been using our first generation headsets and we show them the new all-in-ones, they’re blown away. They recognise that it’s such a leap ahead of where we were. And I consider this to be version 1.0 in the world of immersive tech. In VR as a whole, the headsets have always been the friction in the equation. And as that friction lessens, you’ll start to
see the tipping point toward more and more adoption, across industries— not just healthcare.” With all-in-one headsets now on the market, Stoudt is particularly excited to see what wearable integrations come out in the future. He says: “There’s a significant opportunity in digital health to amass real-world data. Our VR has been used in more homes than any VR platform today. So that gives us tremendous amounts of data, in terms of usage patterns and challenges. We’ve used our data to improve ease of use and engagement, to make the content better and expand to a wider base of patients.” “But we’re also excited about the future and integration of wearables. That’s going to give us robust physiological data, so that we can then continue to optimise the content and deliver what we call precision VR—optimised for you as an
individual. That’s very much long term, but it is on our radar and we’re looking at what we can do to help drive that.” Operating in the health and wellness space is Boston-based XRHealth, the developer of a VR and AR telehealth platform of immersive, therapeutic applications that address a variety of neuro-cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms. XRHealth’s primary aim is to make its apps accessible in the hospital and the home, positioning VR and AR therapy as easy to use by clinicians and patients alike. Eran Orr, founder and chief executive officer of XRHealth, recognised the potential of immersive tech in healthcare when undertaking his own rehabilitation following a diagnosis of whiplash suffered as a result of a posting as second in command in an F16 squadron. During his 12-year career as an executive officer in the Israeli Air Force, Orr also held the position of initiator and coordinator of the IDF Spinal Cord Damage Prevention Program designed for air crew personnel, giving him extensive experience in the field of physical therapy through industry prevention programmes. Four years later, XRHealth is a certified medical XR company, with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- and CE Mark-registered products. It operates in 50 locations
Image: The VRHealth data portal. Credit: XRHealth
38
FEBRUARY 2020
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
in the US, Israel and Australia, in partnership with hospitals, rehab centres and insurance companies. “We are now rolling out our telehealth platform, which will enable a patient to try out XHealth in the hospital, but then go home and use VR remotely,” Orr says. “Every session is analysed and the clinician can see the results and even control the headset.” XRHealth aims to function as a “one-stop-shop” for hospitals, rehab centres and insurance companies, Orr explains, because for these organisations to be convinced to implement an entirely new computing platform, the proposition has to be compelling. Orr continues: “We believe they won’t do that with a single app or use case. What we’re trying to do is build a platform that will convince these organisations to implement a new computing platform that will provide value to different departments within that organisation.” Building on that compelling proposition, XRHealth has learned over its four years in operation that ease of use is a primary concern for clinicians. As a result, XRHealth’s apps are squarely aimed at the Oculus standalone headsets. XRHealth originally started out on the Oculus Rift, but found that clinicians were reluctant to recommend headsets if they took longer than just seven seconds to set
up. Orr says: “They are operating at full capacity all day and their time is their most precious resource. If you’re not providing any value while taking up their time, they’re not willing to implement VR at all.” Which misells immersive tech as a means of treatment and improving health. You only need to look at the data analytics available, as well as the control it places in the hands of both clinicians and patients, to see its immediate potential. Orr says: “In terms of data, the most important thing to understand is that once a patient puts on a VR headset, they become an element in a computer-generated environment. The patient is the only variable in the platform—we can control and quantify everything else. We can see how the patient interacts with and reacts to individual elements, which we control, so it’s a closed-loop system. The things we can learn from those interactions make VR superior to any other platform.” Orr says that XRHealth is working on integrating various biofeedback wearables, including the Apple Watch and other biomedical-grade feedback sensors. “The aim is to have as many data points as possible to have the best understanding about the patient’s status.” Which also works the other way around, he points out: “The patient can access this data to see how their treatment is progressing, and the clinician can monitor the patient’s progress.”
He adds: “The idea is to start quantifying outcomes. Clinicians feel that this is the biggest challenge that the healthcare industry is facing. It’s hard to know if the patient is getting better or not, whether there is any difference between protocols, and if other clinicians have better outcomes using different protocols. We believe VR is best placed to start quantifying these outcomes.” To achieve these goals, XRHealth doesn’t intend to go it alone. In July 2019, the company opened its VRHealth platform to third-party developers. First movers included Healing HealthCare Systems and VirZOOM. The latest to be announced, Healium by StoryUP, developed a biometrically-controlled solution that is designed to reduce anxiety and stress, allowing users to see their feelings empower virtual worlds via a smartwatch or EEG device. Orr says: “We’re not just developing apps in different verticals, but opening up our platform to thirdparty developers. We want to allow other developers that want to tap into hospitals to be able to do so, without starting from scratch. We’re aiming to the one-stop-shop where everyone can access different types of healthrelated content.” He continues: “There are 30 to 50 companies today trying to work in the healthcare space today. It doesn’t make sense for all of us to work separately to try to educate the market. If we work together and try
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
39
SPOTLIGHT / HEALTHCARE
to have a better value proposition as a whole, we’re increasing the chances of adoption. That’s why we’re trying to partner with any health-related VR operator that is out there.” Orr is keen to point out that developers within immersive tech have a long way to go before their healthcare app is ready for commercialisation. This journey, he says, can be shortened through partnerships. “I think one of the challenges of the single developer is that you can be very gifted and develop a single app
for a particular condition, but that’s probably 5% of the journey that you need to take.” “A developer has to find a way to reach decision makers in the healthcare system and find a way to implement that app into the workflow. They have to find a way to market the app, there are all kinds of logistics and issues that have to be dealt with. It’s a very long process from developing an app, to commercialisation.” Orr concludes: “What we are trying to say to developers is we’ve already
done all that—we’ve spent the past four years doing it. It doesn’t make any sense to replicate that. On the other hand, we don’t want to be the only ones developing all of the apps for all of the different conditions. Instead of that, we can partner and leverage each other’s capabilities.” VR’s potential in training and treatment is clear. It will take a significant amount of work to prove beyond all doubt that immersive tech is a boon for traditionally conservative healthcare, but the signs are there that the industry is well on its way to a discovery that will change how society’s medical professionals are trained and its most vulnerable treated. All that’s required is some informed immersion.
If we work together and try to have a better value proposition as a whole, we’re increasing the chances of adoption
Eran Orr, founder and chief executive officer of XRHealth
40
FEBRUARY 2020
XR Europe 2020 28-29 April, 2020 | London, UK
Conference & Expo April 28-29, 2020 London, UK
Where XR goes mainstream Deliver real value across enterprise and consumer entertainment with virtual and augmented reality
REGISTER NOW AT WWW.VR-INTELLIGENCE.COM/EUROPE
300+
Attendees
70+
Speakers
30+
Sessions
A SOLUTION DRIVEN AGENDA DEDICATED TO ENHANCING CONSUMER EXPERIENCE TO DRIVE VR & AR ADOPTION
8 hours+ Networking
Industry verticals
WORLD CLASS SPEAKERS FROM THE MOST POWERFUL COMPANIES ACROSS INDUSTRY, TECH & ENTERTAINMENT
• WHO is leading the charge that you should be partnering with? And what are the secrets of their success?
Mark Poole E-Learning Design Consultant Lloyds Banking Group
• WHAT are the primary platforms, hardware, software and solutions options that will take immersive tech and content to the next level? And where are the tech gaps?
Craig Piper Learning Delivery Manager Lloyds Banking Group
• WHERE are the real consumer and enterprise market opportunities right now? And what’s coming round the corner?
Paras Shah Head of Health, Safety & Sustainability Vodafone
• WHEN will VR & AR go mainstream? What major successes are we seeing already? And what are the barriers holding back adoption? • HOW are businesses across industry reacting to the shift to immersive tech? What impacts are VR & AR having on day-to-day operations and productivity? • WHY should you be investing? Will early movement pay-off, and what levels of ROI can you expect?
VIEW THE FULL AGENDA HERE Global Gold Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
15+
Mark Sage Executive Director AR for Enterprise Alliance Jill Spaeh Global Virtual Design & Construction Management: BIM Integration & Training BASF Brian Waterfield Digital Manufacturing Manager Jaguar Land Rover Florian Couret Head of Digital Innovation BNP Paribas Real Estate
CHECK OUT THE FULL SPEAKER LINE-UP
REGISTER TO CONNECT WITH 300+ XR LEADERS
UPDATE / HEALTHCARE
Play4REAL XR Lab: Ahead of the game Dr Kimberly Hieftje on how XR can deliver health education in schools
42
FEBRUARY 2020
V
R training is reducing risk, saving costs and developing the workforce of tomorrow for a family-owned and managed oilfield service provider. The use of XR has seen a recent explosion in the past two years in health and education. Inexpensive, tether-free headsets such as the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest provide an excellent platform for the implementation of these experiences in the classroom. However, whether they are effective at improving learning or influencing behaviours is still up for debate and, unfortunately,
not many schools have access to the technology—yet. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge supporter of using game technology for learning and skill-building (that’s what I do!), but how do we get these great experiences in the hands of teachers and students? And do teachers even want it? I don’t know the answer to these questions, by the way, so I’m putting it out there. For background, our lab (play4REAL XR Lab at Yale) recently developed and launched Invite Only VR, a vaping prevention game for young teens. Sponsored by Oculus and
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech healthcare archives
UPDATE / HEALTHCARE Image: Invite Only VR was developed for the Oculus Go and is free to download on the Oculus Store. Credit: play4REAL Lab
in partnership with prototyping company PreviewLabs Inc, Invite Only VR was developed for the Oculus Go and is free to download on the Oculus Store. In this engaging, story-based game, the player must navigate different types of peer pressure, including the pressure to vape (specifically, JUUL) in various social situations such as in the school bathroom, in the back of a classroom, and at a party. Invite Only VR was developed by teens for teens—teens from all over Connecticut helped us to design the game, write the narrative, and even did the voice acting! Only recently, Invite Only VR was listed as one of the Top 50 VR Games of 2019 in Forbes! It takes about 90 minutes to complete the game, and covers topics such as: (i) general knowledge about vaping/ JUUL, chemicals and flavours; (ii) health and safety concerns related to vaping/JUUL; (iii) the harmful effects of nicotine and nicotine addiction; (iv) legal aspects related to owning, using and selling vaping products, including JUUL and JUUL pods; and (v) social media and marketing influence of tobacco companies and others on teens’ attitudes and behaviours. We also have a teacher guide available on
Image: It takes about 90 minutes to complete Invite Only VR. Credit: play4REAL Labs
our website to facilitate discussions during and after gameplay. Beyond the learning goals of Invite Only VR, we have also included several opportunities for realtime skill-building in the game. For instance, the game uses voice recognition software to allow players to verbally respond to characters (from pre-selected choices) and practice refusal skills. The player can choose different ways to refuse characters in risky situations by choosing to make a joke, make an excuse, change the subject, or
suggest an alternative. We wanted to provide the player with the opportunity to say ‘no’, but in a way that left them feeling in control. Besides, we know that saying no to a close friend may look different than saying ‘no’ to the cool upperclassman that you are hoping to impress. In my opinion, the game is pretty cool. And perhaps we are ahead of the game, so to speak, in many ways. But I like to think we are adding to the current dearth of experiential, skill-based learning experiences for health education that are greatly
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
43
UPDATE / HEALTHCARE
We are adding to the current dearth of experiential, skill-based learning experiences for health education that are greatly needed
needed. In a few years, perhaps that gap will close and VR game-based interventions such as Invite Only VR will be readily accessible and in classrooms. I like to be optimistic. But I am cautious, too. We still have a lot of research to do before we can make any big claims about the effectiveness of XR in improving learning and health outcomes. And we really need to be talking to those that will be using it the most—our teachers. For now, if you or your school is one of the lucky ones to have access to Oculus Go, please download our game from the Oculus store (for free!) and let me know what you think! Or, if you just want to reach out and give me your thoughts,
44
FEBRUARY 2020
Dr Kimberly Hieftje, director of the play4REAL XR Lab and a research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine
I’d also love to hear from you: play4real@yale.edu. Oh, and please follow us on Facebook and Twitter! We are doing really cool stuff and creating more experiences around health education. Our next project is an AR experience for teens on alcohol use prevention/harm reduction. Funded by Unreal Engine and Epic Games Megagrants, the game will be created for Magic Leap.
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech healthcare archives
XR Immersive Enterprise 2020
SAVE $300
Book before before January January 17 17 Book
Conference, Expo & Networking
Prices go go up up by by $300 $300 at at midnight! midnight! Prices
Revere Hotel Boston Common | May 5-6 | #XR2020 #ReutersEvents
Immersive Enterprise 2020
Conference & Expo May 5-6, 2020 Revere Hotel Boston Common
Unlocking the Potential of XR 300+
50+
Attendees
Speakers
20+
Case Studies
10+
5+
Industry Verticals Hours of Networking
Essential Themes: Discover Solutions
Prove the Value
Boost Adoption
Unlock ROI and Scale
Find the right solution and its applicability to your unique problem. Discover how your company measures up against your own and other industries
Uncover how XR champions, innovation departments, business heads and HR get budget sign off and the process you need to take
Gain valuable techniques for alleviating social anxiety, improving collaboration, and approaching change management
Learn about XR’s distinct security and sustainability measures, how pipelines should be built and what the future looks like
RETURNING FOR A 3rd YEAR
The World's Most Senior XR Strategy Event Industry Leading Speakers Include:
Mona Hakky Design Director
Szczepan Baran Head of Emerging Technologies
Stephen Paul
Visualization and Immersive Technology Director
Shelley Peterson
Principal Investigator for Augmented & Mixed Reality
Terry Schussler Senior Director, Spatial Computing
Kurt Maldovan Director of VDC
REGISTER NOW AT EVENTS.VR-INTELLIGENCE.COM/ENTERPRISE
INTERVIEW / VISUALISATION
46
FEBRUARY 2020
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech visualisation archives
INTERVIEW / VISUALISATION Image: Example of a large-scale environment from Mechdyne. Credit: Mechdyne
VRWT: What does your company do in 3D visualisation and VR?
Meet: Mechdyne Headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mechdyne Corporation designs and delivers turnkey, large scale 3D/ virtual reality solutions
Chad Kickbush, general manager of integration, the VR and AV design/ integration team at Mechdyne: Mechdyne has expertise in designing and global delivery of turnkey, large scale 3D/virtual reality solutions such as immersive rooms (CAVEs), ultra-high resolution displays and custom configurations. While this is our specialty, we have capabilities at all scales of VR. We have delivered multiple variants of HMD-based solutions including multi-user collaborative environments with several motion-tracked users sharing the virtual world. Founded in 1996 as a VR specialist, Mechdyne has multiple world-first solutions including the first PC-based CAVE (1999), reconfigurable displays (wall to CAVE, 2002), 200 million pixel, six-sided immersive rooms (2007), and multiple configurations of specialised tiled displays that deliver extreme resolution in smaller space footprints (2015). Our clients include automotive/aerospace, higher education, government research and contractors, energy, manufacturing, entertainment and more. We have installed and serviced equipment on all continents except Antarctica. Since our founding, the company has evolved into multiple business units that can work independently or together. Specific to VR, we have integration for VR displays, VR software applications, content development, and custom services
and technical services that can support installed systems globally. Our turnkey expertise includes software programmers who have developed VR-enabling software drivers and applications. As an example, the software team developed plug-ins for Unity and Unreal that enable these applications to display in any of the VR systems we have developed, including the 200 million pixel rooms. We have solution engineers who can configure the necessary computing systems. Our mechanical engineers design and build custom structures where required. We even developed a projection solution to achieve active stereoscopic 4K resolution years before projection manufacturers. We have found that every large scale VR system requires some degree of customisation, whether it’s the display, computing and/or software. For this we developed an advanced staging and testing process (STRIVE) that involves building solutions to fully operational status before shipment to the installation site. Advance staging assures clients the system will work upon installation. It reduces time on-site because the system is kitted for easy rebuild. This process is especially beneficial for international installations. VRWT: What do you aim to achieve for your customers when developing a VR solution? Chad Kickbush: First and foremost, we aim to understand our clients goals so we can develop a system
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
47
INTERVIEW / VISUALISATION
to help achieve them. We will not specify technology until we understand use cases, stakeholder objectives, and long term operational requirements. The approach has been applied successfully across all sectors and industries. VR history is littered with many installations done because the technology was ‘cool’ or without solid implementation plans. Those systems soon started to gather dust because they lacked champions, content or other critical operating requirements. We have had clients approach us for CAVE technology, but we have directed them to different configurations. Some may be simplified to a large wall to enable multiple sources to display simultaneously. A recent automotive client required new systems at two different locations. At the first location,
the primary goal was enabling a multi-disciplinary project team to work with a 30-inch wide display wall without a VR specialist’s assistance. Anyone on the team had to be able to access and display content, even from handheld devices, anywhere on a large screen. Digital prototypes needed to be displayed simultaneously with the development schedule, bill of materials and to allow the project team to work together and realise the impact of changes on their deliverables. For this application, the control system was the most important element of the solution. Advance consultation detailed all expected use cases and workflow. This understanding allowed programmers to develop a user interface that completely empowered the collaboration team. A government research client required a completely immersive
environment to visualise how robots and humans will interact in enclosed work environments. They also needed assistance with development of the content with physics-based models. Unity was the chosen platform so the researchers could eventually learn to build or modify content on their own. Unity displays natively in HMDs but not in immersive rooms such as CAVEs, especially across multiple computing nodes needed for ultra-high resolution displays. Years ago, our software group developed getReal3D, a Unity plug-in that allowed another client to achieve their goals. getReal3D enables the human/robot models to display in the multi-planar CAVE with the associated motion tracking. CAVEs and other large scale immersive systems are very powerful visualisation tools even when one user is tracked and controls perspective for other viewers. Through the years, clients presented the challenge to enable active stereoscopic 3D displays with multiple tracked viewpoints at one time. We accomplished this back in the early 2000s with CRT-based projectors. Quality active stereoscopic 3D projection requires display refresh rates of at least 120Hz. CRT projectors could refresh fast enough for two viewpoints, but the brightness of CRTs was low compared to today. Dividing low
Image: An HMD/motion tracked user working in collaboration with a larger immersive display in the background. Credit: Mechdyne
48
FEBRUARY 2020
Do you want to know more? Visit: VRWorldTech visualisation archives
INTERVIEW / VISUALISATION
brightness between two viewers made all images dark; the concept did not catch on. We have worked with DLP manufacturers through the years requesting faster refresh rates. In June 2019, together with Digital Projection, we introduced MultiVew solutions that allow three tracked viewpoints from one high brightness projector. Stacking two projectors and adding polarisation filters into the mix enables up to six tracked viewers at one time. This opens up entirely new possibilities for large scale VR that we are now exploring with interested users. With our turn-key capabilities, our goal is to get clients operational as quickly as possible so they can realise benefits. Investments such as this are often scrutinised so the sooner returns are realised, the better. Further, initial success with a system can draw more users to increase utilisation. VRWT: Why is visualisation so important to modern businesses? Chad Kickbush: Visualisation systems have the potential to improve a business’s workflow, develop better products, enable new discoveries and bring multi-disciplinary teams together for more productive collaborative sessions. Any one of these can generate significant return on investment. This return can take many forms. VR is being considered more often as part of smart manufacturing initiatives. For manufacturers who have product design as part of their workflow, reviewing virtual prototypes instead of physical ones will save physical development costs.
Time to develop physical models is also saved. Time savings can also be realised by speeding product reviews and decision making. When multiple versions of digital prototypes can be quickly reviewed, or one virtual model quickly modified, the time to decision can be greatly reduced. Any time reduction speeds time to market, which has tremendous value for any organisation. Manufacturers can potentially use their design VR systems to also review new factory floor layouts or enhance the virtual prototypes for presentation to clients. Increasing the utilisation rate of a visualisation system will also increase return on investment.
Similar benefits apply to architecture and construction firms that are working with larger projects with complex design elements. VR reviews/walkthroughs at 1:1 scale can help avoid rework that can be caused by unforeseen obstructions, too-narrow corridors for the purpose or other design elements. VRWT: How can interested parties get in touch? Chad Kickbush: While Mechdyne has representatives in many countries, the best way to start is to contact head office by phone, 641-754-4649, submitting a request on our website www.mechyne.com or submitting a request to info@mechdyne.com.
First and foremost, we aim to understand our clients’ goals so we can develop a system to help achieve them
Chad Kickbush, general manager of integration at Mechdyne Corporation
VRWORLDTECH.COM
FEBRUARY 2020
49
w w w . v r w o r l d t e c h . c o m
THE BUSINESS OF MANUFACTURED REALITIES Dedicated to the business of virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, audio sensory experiences and other upcoming innovations within immersive technology, VRWorldTech keeps business leaders and professionals updated with daily news and regular features from across the globe. To subscribe to the weekly VRWorldTech newsletter, follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dunw2v Jonathan Savage, Publisher jonsavage@vrworldtech.com
Mark Dugdale, Editor editor@vrworldtech.com