Medicine meets “Augmented Reality”
Google has announced it will begin selling eye glasses later this year, called “Goggles” , which have a built-in computer and video display. The glasses will be transparent and that will allow images seen in real-time to be annotated with information stored in the computer or accessed over the internet.
In computer circles, this is known as “Augmented Reality” which, according to Sujata Neidig , has three elements:
Localization and/or positioning. The technology must be able to identify the position of the person or object relative to its surroundings. This location is the reality part of the equation, what will be augmented.
Context awareness. Once a position or location is identified, it’s key to understand the surroundings and environment of the position as well as the intentions. This leads to the augmentation.
Intelligent interaction. The end goal is for the user to be able to have a quick and intuitive response to the information and data provided – a natural action that can influence the environment.
Companies such as “Layer” have been using augmented reality with connected mobile devices. Here is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08&feature=player_detailpage
Imagine the physician of the future – no need to look in the chart because the Electronic Medical Record will be displayed as an annotation in his/her glasses. Facial recognition will select the correct patient. Charting? No problem – voice recognition from a bluetooth headset would do the trick.
Anyone using Augmented Reality in Medicine already?
Edward Cohen, MD 