Working in VR, is it going to happen soon?

6

October

2020

No ratings yet.

Oculus, HTC, Google, Samsung, Sony. These may be the most well-known developers of VR-headsets. Virtual Reality (and Augmented Reality also) has thus far mainly served as entertainment, being the platform for a whole range of games with new mechanics. This novel technology is now seeing new usage in different sort of sectors, per example the healthcare sector, the real estate sector and architecture sector. More and more companies are trying to find a way to implement VR.

But why would we want to implement VR/AR? Alex Hern from the newspaper The Guardian tried working in VR for a day and reported a lot of uncomfortable moments and unpleasantries. Still, you could argue that indeed some sectors can really benefit from the implementation of VR in the workspace. Such as 3D modelling; imagine being able to walk around the object you are developing and adjust the model in real time. Or corporate wise; imagine video calling where you are able to see peoples hand gestures, and other non-verbal communication.

So far, the three most prominent technical pitfalls for the implementation for VR in the work field are the following; computer power, connectivity and available applications/software. VR requires the computer to do a lot of calculations, and for everyone to be using a high-end computer would cost the company a lot of money. Secondly, if we were to use VR to control machines remotely -lets say a crane- the connectivity must not lag, since this could create dangerous situations. Maybe with the rollout of the 5G network this problem could already be solved in the near future. Lastly, the development of VR-software is still in its infancy and so far no real software’s have been created which could support corporations in the implementation of VR. These types of software will have to be build from the ground up. Yet, a lot of companies see potential in it, so the development of software should eventually not be an pitfall anymore.

Imagine doing your work and meeting people in VR, from the comfort of your home. Do you think this to be realistic or is this something beyond the scope of VR?

 

References

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/05/i-tried-to-work-all-day-in-a-vr-headset-so-you-never-have-to

https://www.lbbonline.com/news/how-virtual-reality-can-help-working-from-home

https://www.techradar.com/news/vr-is-the-future-of-remote-working

 

 

Please rate this

The AI knows how you’re feeling.

29

September

2020

5/5 (1)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic the past decade, where KPMG projects the investments in AI, machine learning and RPA to increase over the next 5 years to a staggering 232 billion dollars (KPMG, 2019). Looking at the healthcare sector, the technology is evolving to the point AI can already identify certain diseases such as cancer. However, in the mental healthcare, trials to use AI for detection of mental disorders (e.g. depression or borderline) are trending and results are somewhat promising. Yet, one of the main complications for AI in mental health are measurements of the physiological (e.g. electrodermal activity, heart rate) and psychological (e.g. shift in tone, usage of certain words) patterns.

Over the last couple of years, more and more people own a smartwatch and a smartphone. Mental health professionals and engineers have been trying to use wearables and smartphones as an instrument for the AI to assess the persons physiological and psychological state, after which the AI notifies a health care professional if an anomaly should occur.
But what if the AI could detect these tendencies of an underlying mental disorder? For example, an elevated heart rate (picked up by the wearable) could mean exercise or a simple scare. However, if it’s accompanied by sudden elevation of respiration (a.k.a. hyperventilation), or increased speed of speech (picked up by the smartphone) this may indicate a panic reaction to a stimuli, or simple arousal. Yet, if this happens multiple times a day, this could indicate a panic disorder or such. These physiological changes can all be gathered by the wearables and smartwatches and evaluated by the AI, which a healthcare professional could then use for the assessment of the mental being of the patient.

Thus far, research has shown that AI can at least as accurate detect a mental disorder as a trained healthcare professional can. Yet, mental healthcare professionals are not keen on the implementation of AI (Chandler, Foltz & Elvevåg, 2019). Examples of reasons are the trustworthiness of AI and machine learning in mental healthcare and the accuracy of vital sign measurements by wearables (Hahnen et al., 2020). For now, the best implementation of AI in mental health care is by means of applications, with which an AI can keep track of your mental health through questionnaires. So one day AI knows how you are feeling, but for now, you just have to tell him.

But, would you allow AI to track you mental health?

References
KPMG, (2019), Khube Mag: Intelligent automation edition.
Chandler, C., Foltz, P.W. & Elvevåg, B., 2019. Using Machine Learning in Psychiatry: The Need to Establish a Framework That Nurtures Trustworthiness. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article-abstract/46/1/11/5611057 [Accessed September 29, 2020].
Hahnen, C. et al., 2020. Accuracy of Vital Signs Measurements by a Smartwatch and a Portable Health Device: Validation Study. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7055753/ [Accessed September 29, 2020].

Please rate this