SURVIVRS+ Surround Video-Based Virtual Reality for Surgery Guidance: Evaluation of an AI-enhanced virtual reality tool (UNCG)
Type: Contract Project
Duration: from 2023 Apr 21 to 2023 Dec 31
Financed by: University of North Carolina
Prime Contractor: R - INESC-ID Lisboa (Other) - Lisboa, Portugal
The SURVIVRS+ project aims to confront the shortage of specialized medical professionals and the need for timely emergency surgical care in low- and middle-income countries. Using an immersive extended reality (XR) tool, the project seeks to create a virtual operating room where a remote specialist can guide and cooperate with a local non-specialist surgical team in real-time. The primary objectives of the SURVIVRS+ are to provide a real-time virtual reality remote surgical task-sharing platform, and to offer an immersive AI-enhanced virtual reality training environment for medical professionals. After developing a functional prototype, the short-term goal is to adapt this technology to the needs of low- and middle-income countries and conduct a formative evaluation. This evaluation will identify implementation needs and barriers, adapt the technology to the local setting, and assess the implementation package's usability and effectiveness. Ultimately, the long-term goal is to use this advanced technology to reduce healthcare delays in these countries by efficiently using available resources. One key objective of this project is to perform user tests with 360º video and XR headsets and also figure out the feasibility of XR as a diagnostic tool.