Why AR and VR are set to transform the medical device sector
Tim Jennings, Custom Case Group explains how these technologies could impact medtech.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have seen tremendous growth in the last several years, and the hype surrounding them is only increasing as their possibilities continue to make themselves apparent. But AR and VR aren’t new. In fact, people have been using and improving them for quite some time. From early audiovisual flight simulators in the 1950s to the first VR headsets in the 1990s, devices that layer analytics or data onto the real world or create a new reality entirely have been in use for both entertainment and training purposes for decades.
The concept of manipulating reality might not be novel, but how it’s being executed is. Modern high-definition screens can render rich images that are nearly indistinguishable from in-person visuals, and the sheer power and ubiquity of today’s devices would have rendered users 20 years ago dumbstruck. Blazing-fast smartphones with expandable memory would put the computers of the early 2000s to shame, and they’re in almost every hand. Consumers and enterprises have access to a level of power that makes AR and VR more feasible and effective than ever before.
While the most publicized inroads into the potential of AR and VR technologies have taken place in entertainment, things have gotten serious, too. AR and VR are making waves in the medical industry – and making a transformation of the entire medical device industry more and more likely. Here are three key areas of potential that will make AR and VR a monolithic presence in the medical device industry in the coming years:
Portability
AR is already living on phones and in wearables. Connected devices add a digital layer to the world around us through wireless networks, GPS data and image capture. AR apps (like a famous monster-catching game that took the world by storm in 2016) aren’t novel anymore – they’re commonplace. Virtual reality headsets, once heavy and often burdened with a range of peripheral accessories and sensors, are now far more self-contained, and continue to get lighter and even more portable. Clinical skills training that would have previously taken place in a full simulation room covered floor to ceiling in specialized hardware can now happen with a headset paired with wearable connected devices to sense motion. Portable vital-signs-monitoring devices and automated diagnostic programs using smartphone-captured visuals are making practicing medicine possible anywhere.
Lightweight but durable plastics and polymers are vital to the comfort and usability of many of these devices, and materials innovation should pay off in coming years.
Accessibility
Accessibility can mean two things, and one is price. While the most sophisticated AR and VR technologies – like those that are used in detailed surgical simulations, for example – may cost a hefty sum, more mundane items like headsets and wearables continue to become more affordable. Richly detailed VR headsets that would have been under lock and key at a government facility 10 years ago are on sale for several hundred dollars to interested consumers – and the price is dropping every day, even as the technology becomes more sophisticated.
As manufacturers respond to rising demand and get smart with lighter materials and more economical designs, AR and VR technologies have the potential to be remarkably affordable (and thus, accessible).
Versatility
From facility-sized systems that project a digital layer onto connected mannequins and simulated surgical devices to lightweight wearables that provide medical insights based on vital-signs monitoring, AR and VR devices vary widely in where and how they’re used. For the most part, the only true limitation of AR and VR is human creativity. Any medical scenario could potentially be simulated for learners, provided that someone is willing to program its functionality. Pediatric cancer patients who are confined during chemo can travel anywhere with a headset, provided that someone is able to render visuals rich enough to carry the patient away. These technologies can do so much if innovators are willing to reach out and take the opportunity.
The more that these technologies do, the more refined they become. The more refined they become, the more willing health care organizations will become to adopt them. This cycle is already underway, and staying aware of how AR and VR are evolving will be a crucial part of participating in the new reality that they’ll undoubtedly create in the coming years.