Updated: Jun 28
8 Platforms using VR for surgical simulation
Mentice Virtual Reality simulators for image-guided interventional therapies.
OssoVR is a virtual surgery simulation platform that offers realistic hand-based interactions.
Medical Augmented Intelligence creates AR and VR educational tools. The company’s Body Map and DigiTwin help students and professionals Immerse in a virtual reality anatomy learning experience.
Immersive Touch creates virtual reality solutions for surgical planning, training, and education in neurosurgery.
Surgical Theater created a VR-based surgical rehearsal platform for neurosurgical preoperative planning and rehearsal.
One Shot Immersive develops virtual reality training experiences for mass casualty and other trauma emergencies. The products can be used to train medical and nonmedical personnel and enable them to make life-saving decisions in critical situations.
FundamentalVR delivers haptic simulators that let surgeons practice and sharpen their skills. Using realistic vibration patterns, the haptic technology gives doctors the feeling of holding actual tools.
Surgical Science’s medical simulators offer clinicians realistic hands-on experience in medical training using surgical simulators to perform Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) and interventional procedures.
Updated: Jun 28
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes digital images onto the user's field of view.
It allows for the overlay of useful information or digital content on real-world surfaces, providing a deeper understanding of the environment. Augmented reality is 75% real and 25% virtual.
AR is currently available for smartphones, tablets, smart headsets, and smart glasses.
AR overlays virtual objects on the real-world environment.
Mixed reality (MR) is a technology that blends the real and virtual worlds, allowing physical and digital objects to coexist and interact in real-time.
MR is a combination of both, virtual and augmented reality, providing the user with the ability to experience and manipulate digital content in the context of the real world.
MR provides AR and VR experiences in the same headset or glasses.
MR allows the user to view the real world while manipulating the digital content.
Here are 3 main differences between AR and MR:
1. Freedom
Mixed reality allows interaction with digital content as users can go hands-free, there is no need to hold onto a mobile device to keep it going.
Users can interact with the virtual environment more naturally, through verbal commands and hand gestures.
AR content can be retrieved using a mobile device, you will need a headset to experience MR.
2. Immersion
Augmented reality creates a physical world that does not exist by keeping the real world central and augmenting the real-world visuals with computer-generated elements such as graphics, audio, and video.
MR brings together the real world and the virtual world in a more immersive way
3. Interaction
MR enables the user to walk into and manipulate a scene.
AR doesn't allow the user to interact with virtual objects.
AR is a real-world environment overlaid with virtual objects. MR is a real-world environment plus virtual objects you can interact with.
Put simply, in mixed reality, you can see virtual objects just like you can in augmented reality, but these objects can also interact with the real world. In a sense, mixed reality is a more immersive and interactive type of augmented reality.
Updated: Jun 28
VR provides an immersive experience that can transport users to different environments, whether it's a game, a virtual tour of a city, or a simulation of a surgical procedure.
This can be a powerful tool for surgical education and training.
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment that can be experienced through a VR headset and motion sensors.
Unlike augmented reality, virtual reality creates entirely virtual reality and immerses its user in a reality built by a computer that does not necessarily have a relationship with the real world.
What are the 4 Elements of Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality usually has these 4 elements or characteristics:
Believable virtual world: VR uses computer technology to simulate the real world
Immersion: with the help of VR headsets and spatial audio, the user can experience full immersion in the virtual-generated world
Sensory feedback: as the user moves his head around, what he sees changes as well
Interactivity: the user can interact with different objects in the virtual scene
The 3 Types of Virtual Reality:
Non-immersive virtual reality: This is the simplest and most basic type of VR experience. Provide a computer-generated environment, where the user doesn't lose contact with the real physical world, for example, video games.
Semi-immersive virtual reality: Provides a different environment through 3D graphics, while the user remains in contact with the physical world, for example, example piloting simulation.
Fully immersive virtual reality: Provides a realistic simulation environment (sight and sound), where the user loses contact with the physical world, using a VR headset.
How does virtual reality work?
VR is a computer-generated environment with 3D images, scenes, and objects. This environment is perceived through a VR headset.
VR uses a headset to block out the user's surrounding physical environment and replace it with a dynamic and adaptive 3D environment.
This simulated environment appears to be real and gives a sense of immersion more than is experienced through a flat screen.
The user can explore, move, and interact with tactile and sensory feedback by wearing a visor or haptic gloves.
Virtual reality headsets project 3D virtual content created by software into the user's field of view. This virtual content is simulating a real or fictional environment.
Virtual reality is important because it provides immersive experiences, enhances learning, and offers cost-effective training.