Mixed Reality Laboratory Training Suite - Abstract & Project Summary
Laboratory training is a complex and labor-intensive process. The quality of laboratory
procedure execution is critical for scientific validity, clinical utility and the overall safety of
laboratory workers. Over the past few years Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR, AR), or in
combination, Mixed Reality (MX) technologies have been a subject of great interest in the
training community for the realism and interactivity provided. Evidence is emerging from
published studies that AR/VR simulators provide high fidelity training experiences as well as
instantaneous, unbiased, and valid assessment of technical skills for scientific and health
related fields. Virtual reality training contributes to the development of skills relevant for real
procedures and might shorten the learning curve for new procedures. VR training sessions can
build familiarity with work environments, equipment and proper procedures can and build
competency through retention prior to or in combination with traditional training. VR provides a
digital environment in which the user interacts as if it in the real world. The more recent
technology development, Augmented Reality (AR), has begun to prove a powerful tool for
delivering complex curricula content in supportive and interactive way as well as offering
intraprocedural guidance. AR differs from VR because the focus of the interaction of the
performed task is within the real world instead of the digital environment. Thus, AR offers the
opportunity of a digital, often interactive overlay onto a real environment. These layers of the
virtual and physical environment are combined in a way that an immersive, interactive
environment is experienced by the user. AR may have a strong potential in public health and
clinical laboratory personnel in remote, low resource areas where infectious disease outbreaks
or other medical crises occur. In the recent past the cost and complexity of developing virtual
and augmented reality simulators limited their widespread distribution. This is quickly changing
as commercial AR and VR technologies become more affordable and available to organizations
and the public.
We propose this innovative continuum of AR android smartphone/tablet applications for
introductory education and orientation, and companion, immersive VR simulators for laboratory
skills and procedures training. These along with the innovated “closed-loop” AR technologies
developed by Tietronix for NASA over the past 10 years adds a dimension of procedural
oversight, insuring not only effective execution, but also correct outcomes of laboratory
procedures. These tools present digital environments where trainees can learn about laboratory
equipment and standard operating procedures quickly and correctly, thereby enabling rapid
creation of an effective laboratory workforce. The envisioned tools can be matured in Phases II
and III to a platform where instructional designers themselves can create newer, novel VR and
AR based laboratory training materials that can be deployed on commercially available VR/AR
hardware platforms (including mobile, smartphone and tablets). These tools could be quickly
setup or distributed in new laboratories, field-based clinics or remote, austere environments
without software programming or the need for computer expertise. The Phase I R&D activities
will investigate the feasibility, and then pilot an integrated toolset of AR and VR Training
applications for the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Global Health Initiative’s Smart Pod
“shipping container,” rapid-deploy clinic. Tietronix will utilize instructional material from BCM for
a select set of procedures and practices to create virtual/augmented reality version of these
procedures, along with 3D, interactive models of equipment, devices and instrumentation in the
Smart Pod laboratories. The use of the Augmented Reality tools will enable trainers/educators
to provide enhanced situational awareness during the laboratory procedures training by
overlaying additional information such as instructions or graphical cues on top of the target
system views (for example, operation or maintenance of complex laboratory equipment).
