‘Challenging as it may be, investment into VR/AR technologies for healthcare has many advantages that can significantly improve the quality and efficiency of treatment’, assures dr hab. inż. Dorota Kamińska of the Voxel Research Lab of the Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems, who coordinates the project at TUL.
The VR Health Champions project is intended to advance technological readiness of VR/AR innovations developed by key small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the level of prototype testing to the level of implementation. Among the benefits that may stem from it dr hab. inż. Dorota Kamińska lists:
• improved surgery navigation: aided by VR/AR, surgeons are able to get more precise images and information in real time, which shall improving the accuracy and safety of surgeries.
• immersive health games: VR games can be used by patients to aid in physical therapy, pain and stress reduction, and mental health care.
• cognitive assessment: VR can be used in diagnosis and monitoring of cognitive disorders, e.g., dementia, and make the process more interactive and engaging for the patient.
• medical training for medical professionals and students: VR enables more accurate and realistic medical simulations to better prepare doctors and students for real-world clinical situations.
• customized VR kits for medical use: custom – designed VR headsets for use in a variety of medical procedures to increase comfort and effectiveness of treatment.
‘These innovations may lead to faster and more efficient healthcare, improving the overall patient experience and health outcomes. Application of these technologies will be accelerated by bridging the gaps in their value chains and providing new services tailored to XR solutions to support them, which should be helpful in lowering market barriers’, explains dr hab. inż. Dorota Kamińska.
The VR Health Champions project seeks to:
• reduce innovation gap between developed and less developed regions in Europe,
• ready the healthcare sector for the next technological transformation,
• integrate European XR innovations into healthcare reimbursement systems through interregional cooperation, creation of new European value chains, and overcoming of market barriers, leveraging the various strengths of the partnership.
‘Ultimately, the project will strengthen the standing of the participating member states and the EU in the global XR (Extended Reality) health market, increase digital competitiveness of the participating regions, and create an opportunity for European XR health solutions to grow in the market’, dr hab. inż. Dorota Kaminska sums up.
The task for TUL researchers is to develop modern medical tools, e.g. by applying XR tools to aid in ultrasound examinations, designing soft skills VR training (interpersonal and social skills) for medical professionals and testing the effectiveness of the applications by analyzing biomedical data.
The We Are Health Champions - Disrupting the European Healthcare Systems with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Applications project will kick off on October 1, 2024 and continue for three years. It is coordinated by Instituto Pedro Nunes in Coimbra (IPN, Associação Para A Inovação e Desenvolvimento Em Ciencia e Tecnologia).