Virtual Disaster Simulator

Virtual Disaster Simulator

Mass casualty scenarios are inherently dangerous with many risks to those on site. Subjecting novices to such scenarios prematurely could lead to additional risks or dangers due to inexperience and poor decision making. Additionally, such scenarios are often far too expensive to replicate at any complexity or scale that mimics the real world. For example, staging a training scenario that faithfully recreates the 9/11 events would be a production that rivals blockbuster Hollywood movies as fire, smoke, debris, victims are all staged and coordinated. Even then one would begin to introduce additional dangers to the trainee and eliminate the possibility of trainees having *exactly* the same scenario unfold before them.

This project is an extension of earlier work done for the CDC and Department of Homeland Security in which first responders were trained for a specific disaster scenario to great effect. The focus of this revision was to target the needs of the Emergency Medicine residency program while also making significant advances in visual quality and immersion. It became important for trainees to identify wounds quickly and effectively. Advanced shaders were used to allow for a greater amount of detail per surface so the details of burns and lacerations could be realized. Additionally, advanced skeletally animated characters were also introduced to allow for full articulation of characters.

The project was a large success as the related studies showed the simulator was just as effective at training residents as using standardized patients.
Additionally, the project was recently featured on the Big Ten Network as part of the “Blue in Brief” segments.

Virtual Football Trainer

Virtual Football Trainer

Imagine watching the U-M football team playing in a sold out Michigan Stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon. But instead of cheering from the bleachers, you are being transposed right down to the field next to the quarterback. You are in the middle of the action. You can move to any position and experience the game from the player’s point of view. You feel like being a participant, no longer a spectator.

The technology of immersive virtual reality makes this amazing scenario possible. as you are fully surrounded by the virtual players on the field, the players are presented in full scale and in stereo. It seems that you can touch them. You can look and walk around, hover over the quarterback, or even fly to cover distances quickly.

The simulation of football plays in immersive virtual reality has a most useful and very promising application in the training of football players for specific aspects of a game. The University of Michigan Virtual Reality Laboratory has developed the concept for such a “Virtual Football Trainer” and has implemented a demo version that illustrates the potential in an already convincing way.

The original idea for the Virtual Football Trainer was inspired by the Lloyd Carr, head football coach at the University of Michigan. Generous funding for the development of the system came from the Graham Foundation and equipment support from Silicon Graphics Inc. The Michigan football staff provided continuous guidance and valuable expertise for the design and implementation of the Virtual Football Trainer.

Original Project Page: Virtual Football Trainer