This stuff.co.nz article reports Nextspace, a graphical communication company in New Zealand, has joined a European research consortium that plans to take medical training "to the next level" by letting surgical teams practice operations on holograms. From the article: "Chief executive Roy Davies says training would take place in "mixed reality operating theatres where everything was real except the patient".
"They look ghostly, because they are made up of light, but it does look like a thing hovering over the table." Surgeons would be equipped with "virtual reality" gloves that would give them the sensation of touching the patient as they operated.
Surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses could all be involved in the virtual operation, increasing the sense of credibility.
"What we are trying to do is lead a revolution in medical training. This is leading edge research and development and we don't yet know how to do it all."
Nextspace was set up with the assistance of the Government in January with the goal of creating a $1 billion industry by finding commercial applications for 3D technology developed by New Zealand-founded company Right Hemisphere. It is owned by a nonprofit trust.
Dr Davies says Nextspace was able to join the consortium of 15 European firms bidding for the EU-funded research contract, worth "tens of millions of euros", because of technology Right Hemisphere was able to bring to the table.
The project, called MiROR, could be worth about $700,000 to Nextspace which will provide technology for handling medical graphics data.
Non-European firms are not usually able to bid for EU-funded research work, but Dr Davies says an exception is made for firms that have "unique technology".
Dr Davies says there will be challenges fulfilling the Government's vision for Nextspace, including a lack of people in New Zealand with the right skills to work in the real-time 3D industry. But he says the international success of Right Hemisphere has created an opportunity for New Zealand to make its mark.
"We want New Zealand to be known as the place to go if you have a tough 3D graphics problem that needs fixing."
Dr Davies has experienced the hype and false expectations for virtual reality first hand. He once bought the contents of a five year-old laboratory that had been set up in Sweden at a cost of 12 million crowns (NZ$4 million) in the "early days of virtual reality", paying the equivalent of just 25 cents for it.
The lab didn't have a commercial focus and the university that owned it wanted to free up space, he says.
Nextspace will be focused on solving "real business problems"."