Author: Julie Campbell

A new tech from Purdue U. and Indiana University School of Medicine will guide docs with AR instructions.

Scientists working together at Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine have come up with a new augmented reality based technology designed to assist military surgeons to complete vital procedures on the battlefield.

The tech will offer them guidance through both visual and audio assistance from remote specialists.

The idea is to use more than just verbal instructions when these military surgeons are coping with challenging trauma cases. While there are already systems in existence that give physicians located far away the ability to mark up video that is sent to him or her from a surgeon who is already working on a patient, there are some drawbacks to the current method. For example, though the video is from the perspective of the surgeon actually conducting the procedure, the notes from the assisting remote surgeon are displayed on a monitor nearby. This requires the surgeon to continually look away from the patient and the screen where the instructions are being shown. This new augmented reality based technology could change that.

The System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR) displays the information before the surgeon’s eyes.

It provides more than notes made on a video screen. Instead, it offers a more natural way of sharing information between two doctors who are on different parts of the planet. This allows them to use the overlay of AR technology to display notes or indicate specific positions on the patient that indicates particular points on the anatomy so that the surgeon is seeing it over his or her reality instead of on a screen.

This augmented reality technology offers a few different visual recognition algorithms in order to make sure that the text remains stable above the applicable locations, even if the surgeon changes his or her view away from the field of view where the text applies. This system uses transparent overlay on top of the working field so that a remote surgeon can point things out and add text right in front of the surgeon’s eyes without ever requiring the surgeon to look away from what he or she is doing.

A couple used the application to chase down the man who stole their phone in West Delhi.

A 22 year old man identified as Sandeep Kumar was likely rather surprised to find himself being arrested after the owners of a smartphone used a mobile app to track him down after what he likely thought was the successful theft of that device.

The owners had an application installed on the mobile phone that allowed it to be tracked and found.

The couple simply activated the mobile app from a remote location and found out where Kumar was hiding so that they could easily hand him over to the police. Kumar has allegedly stolen several mobile devices before, so it must have come as quite a shock to him when his discovery capture occurred as easily as it did for the smartphone owners. Before his arrest, he worked at a power distribution company in Delhi as a recovery agent.

The mobile app was actually meant to help owners to find their smartphones when they have been mislaid.

Nishant Verma, the owner of the stolen smartphone, is a resident of Janakpuri in West Delhi. He explained to the police that the cell phone reception in his area is spotty, so he needs to step outside his home whenever he wants to send a text or make or receive a call. That was exactly what he was doing when he stepped out of the house on August 21, when Kumar allegedly grabbed the iPhone 6 out of his hands before speeding off on a scooter. This, according to one of the police officials involved in the case.

Verma immediately contacted his wife who used the Find My iPhone app on her iPad to track down the stolen smartphone. The application provided her with navigation directions and made it possible for the couple to find out just where the accused was hiding.

Kumar continued to change locations throughout the time that followed the theft, but the couple kept up with him through the mobile app, until they finally spotted his scooter in the Sagarpur area and worked with locals to overpower him. The police were called and Kumar was restrained until the law enforcement could arrive and arrest him.