"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" -Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Medical Practice. "Put your back into it" with AR.

 "Doctors only practice medicine, because nobody's got it perfect, yet". Okay, maybe that's not *totally* accurate, but you get the idea. Say you need to go in for invasive surgery, you want to make sure the guy (or girl) 'with the knife' knows what they're doing, right? Well, a surgeon has to get practice *somewhere*, and nobody I know wants to be the test dummy.

Fortunately, Haptica, has a spinal surgery simulator, using augmented reality. Think of it as a *really* high tech version of the old classic game "Operation" Unlike a simple video game, this gives the operator a physical sense, as well as visual feedback, in which to hone their skills.



 Not that I'd ever want spinal surgery, but if I did, instead of asking "Where did you go to med school?", I could ask "What's your high score on Haptica?"

Unlike the current "question" (asked by Mike Elgan)  "Is augmented reality just a cheap gimmick?", this example is solid proof that AR can be practical, useful, (and not require facial recognition), in the here-and-now.

Go, and see.

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