Tag: virtual reality technology

Virtual reality may play an important role in medicine

| February 22, 2016

New technology is already allowing doctors to see – and even feel – the body through a whole new experience.

The medical imaging industry is now undergoing an entirely new level of potential as virtual reality expands well beyond games and takes its first steps into hospitals as well as medical schools.

This VR technology based experience allows doctors to gain a whole new concept of a patient’s body.

The purpose is to allow doctors to use virtual reality in combination with other more traditional medical tech, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasounds, so they can see those images in a three dimensional view, but also interact with those images as though they were really there. By using these viewer devices, in addition to other hardware such as styluses, the doctor will be able to see the image, move it with his or her hand, and even feel resistance through the hardware, as though they were touching the actual organ or other body part that has been scanned.

This virtual reality experience would allow a doctor to look right inside a patient’s brain without cutting into it.

Virtual Reality Technology - MedicineThe majority of today’s medical imaging equipment is already capable of producing high quality 3D images. However, surgeons must view those images in a 2D experience as the only place they can display it is on a traditional screen. Even with multiple images, viewed as a series of snapshots of a body part, they are required to create a mental image of the reconstructed body part in their heads.

The investment into 3D imaging has been put off, until now, because many doctors don’t feel that viewing a three dimensional image would provide enough benefit to be worth the expense. Hospitals would be required to demonstrate the ability of the tech to improve the care received by the patient, and then be reimbursed for that tech investment.

That said, with the latest virtual reality technologies, that situation could easily change. This tech can draw data and imagery from several sources in order to create a complete 3D view, with the potential to considerably improve the outcomes of patients.

Google names new head of virtual reality

| January 19, 2016

The tech giant has thrown its hat in the VR technology ring along with Microsoft and Facebook.

Microsoft and Facebook have been powering forward with virtual reality technology, but at the same time it has appeared as though Google has been falling behind in this particular category.

That said, 2016 is starting to suggest that this isn’t the case as Google has been making moves to catch up.

It has now been revealed that Google is making moves to form its own division that is dedicated to virtual reality tech and computing. As a central component of this effort, it has now named Sundar Pichai – the company’s CEO – as a division head, according to several sources. This represents a massive shift in control positions at the company as it simultaneously indicates that the company has a new intention to create a solid enterprise business. After all, with this shift in execs, it will be senior vice president Diane Green who will take control over the company’s tremendous consumer web applications.

While the changes have been confirmed by a Google spokesperson, further discussion of virtual reality was declined.

Virtual Reality TechnologyThe Google vice president of product management, Clay Bavor, has been in control of the company’s apps; such as Drive, Gmail and Docs. Since the launch of Cardboard in 2014, he has also been the head of that division. Moving forward, Bavor is stepping away from apps in order to place all his attention on VR products. As he steps out of apps, Greene is stepping in, who joined the company in November in order to take control of the newly formed enterprise operations.

The original creation of Cardboard had been to create a form of VR technology that could be introduced in a mainstream way. So far, it has seen some limited success as it has recently started some distribution programs with schools. It also brought about a new GoPro integration that made it possible to carry VR video over to YouTube. That feature was initially introduced in May 2015 at the Google I/O, by Bavor.

This most recent large move in virtual reality might help to assuage the concerns and criticisms of people in the industry who have been indicating that Google isn’t all that dedicated to the tech.