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South Korean hospital is developing a technology that will allow people to feel coldness and warmth within VR by combining South Korean medical technologies and ICT (Information Communication Technology).
This technology can be applied to variety of areas such as medical devices, e-commerce, and cellphones and related products will be commercialized in 2019.
The Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital made an announcement on the 12th that it is carrying out a research with Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Professor Yoo Seung-shik) on feelings utilizing stimulation from a brain within VR (Virtual Reality). This project is supported by Ministry of Science, ICP and Future Planning’s Global Frontier Center of Human-Centered Interaction for Coexistence.
Research started in 2014 and thesis on this research was announced. They developed a brain map where feelings are felt within VR. They found out which part of a brain feels coldness and warmth and are going to finish development of this technology in 2019.
A generation where people can feel feelings within VR is approaching. A researcher from The Catholic University of Korea Incheon St.Mary’s Hospital is developing a technology that feels sense of coldness and warmth, sense of dynamic, and sense of vibration by using ultrasonic waves. Staff Reporter Kim, Dongwook | [email protected]
“Currently VR is an one-way form where people see and move within a particular situation.” said Vice-Director Jung Yong-an of The Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital. “If a technology that feels feelings is applied, a generation where this technology is applied mutually with VR can be opened.”
They are currently carrying out research on sense of coldness, sense of warm, sense of dynamic, and sense of vibration. Technology that they are researching on will stimulate a brain so that corresponding feelings can be felt by users who are wearing helmets. Because this technology is based on non-invasive method, it does not give direct stimulation to a brain.
When development is finished, The Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital is going to transfer this technology to private companies. The Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital is going to commercialize medical devices at The Catholic Kwandong University International St. Mary’s Hospital, and these devices will be suitable to treat brain diseases such as The Parkinson’s Disease. “Current treatment for The Parkinson’s Disease stops shaking by giving direct electric stimulation to a brain.” said Vice-Director Jung. “Medical devices that are applied with this new technology will be more effective than current treatment since it does not give direct stimulation to a brain.
This technology can be applied to e-commerce such as online shopping malls. People can feel quality of a product that they want to purchase online. Therefore ‘virtual feeling’ can be possible when people are trying to purchase clothing online. This technology can also be applied t in learning sports and rehabilitation. It will be suitable in learning golf and swimming as bodies can experience identical repetitive movements. Cellphone manufacturers are going to think about applying this technology to their phones.
There are still some tasks that they need to resolve first. They need to make sensation that is felt by stimulation of a brain very accurate. For example, they need to separate intension of sense of coldness as well as sense of warmth. Sense of vibration also needs to be subdivided from a level where it hurts to a level where there is slight shaking.
Regulations such as approval procedures are also obstacles that they need to overcome in order to commercialize this technology. They need an approval from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety if they want to apply this technology to medical devices and go through clinical procedures in order to obtain an approval. Permission to use related systems is also required in order to apply this technology to e-commerce. “Development of technology is not the main problem.” said Vice-Director Jung. “The problem is to ease related regulations such as approvals.”
Staff Reporter Shin, Hyekwon | [email protected]
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