About This Project
Up to this day, VRET has been approached by not too many professionals; mainly because of prohibitive costs and because the technology wasn't ready for prime time. What differentiates this approach from what's been done before, is that with the Oculus Rift an unprecedented level of immersion can be achieved. Typical systems have a field of view (FoV) of 45 degrees, while the Rift has 110 degree diagonal field of view and negligible head tracking latency, which allows it to fool the brain into thinking that what's seen is not a screen but something real.Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
The goal is to develop a software platform based on virtual environments. Anxiety is one of the most frequent mental health problems, affecting 18-25% of the population. Preliminary studies -with far less advanced technologies- have shown a 90% success rate in treating acrophobia in a very short period (12 sessions). Studies have shown that virtual reality therapy can be as effective -or more- as in-vivo exposure (being exposed to real heights, for instance). AMVR is a 3D platform for Virtual Reality based treatments and research; initially, for ailments such as: Acrophobia (fear of heights): affects 10% of women/men - Arachnophobia: affects 50% of women and 10% of men - Claustrophobia - Agoraphobia, Panic Attacks and some forms of chronic and acute anxiety symptoms during certain situations: crowded/open spaces, public transportation. Future development is planned to include CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) research and treatment of Glossophobia (fear of public speaking), Ornithophobia (fear of birds), aerophobia (fear of flying), Autism derived communication and life skills training/difficulties and also help attenuate depression and anxiety symptomatology.
What is the significance of this project?
VRET (virtual reality exposure therapy) has been researched since the early 1990s. Treatment is a variation of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), which used in-vivo exposure (exposing the person to the real stimuli) and Imaginary Exposure (thinking about the anxiety generating situation).
Up to this day, VRET has been approached by not too many professionals; mainly because of prohibitive costs and because the technology wasn't ready for prime time. What differentiates this approach from what's been done before, is that with the Oculus Rift an unprecedented level of immersion can be achieved. Typical systems have a field of view (FoV) of 45 degrees, while the Rift has 110 degree diagonal field of view and negligible head tracking latency, which allows it to fool the brain into thinking that what's seen is not a screen but something real.
What are the goals of the project?
Experimental information derived from research with people, testing new technologies and incorporating vital signs and sensory data into an integrated software platform. There is an enourmous room for experimentation and application of current and upcoming technologies, such as body tracking and static mobility devices such as omni directional treadmills being currently developed.
Budget
Software development starts on Monday, March 4th: estimated time to completion: 2 months. Oculus Rift Integration: Mid April/May, 2013 Motion Capture and Virtual Mobility Integration: September 2013 Test subjects have already been recruited. Initial research and treatment protocol development will occur throughout 2013 and Q1 2014.
Meet the Team
Team Bio
I'm a Psychologist from Argentina. I studied at the University of Buenos Aires and graduated in 2007. In March of 2008 I moved to Pennsylvania, USA to work for the Devereux Foundation, a leader and the largest Mental Health Care and Autism Research and Treatment Organiation in the US. I worked for almost 4 years at Devereux where I managed different mental health programs for both kids/adolescents/adults/elderly suffering from a broad spectrum of psychological, psychiatric and physiological disorders and conditions. I designed treatment programs based in Applied Behavior Analysis and Cognitive Behavioral Theory. This experience, coupled with my educational background in Psychoanalysis, enable me to view the human mind as a byproduct of highly evolved Biology and Culture. I've been a technology and science enthusiast since I learned to read when I was 5 years old and I haven't stopped reading and studying ever since. I became acquainted with computers in the 80s (I'm 33), when I got my first Commodore 64. In 1992, my mother, an English teacher who owned her own institute, bought a computer for her academy. In my hometown, it was a revolutionary method for teaching. Around that time, while on vacations in the city of Mar del Plata, I had my first contact with Virtual Reality. I became enthralled and hypnotized by those gigantic contraptions. I knew it was the future, I just didn't how far away it was. One year later, I got my hands on a Victor Maxx HMD, which turned out to be as frustrating (or more) as a Nintendo Virtual Boy. When I became aware of the Oculus Rift's existence, I knew that second that the technology had finally became an affordable reality to treat people with incapacitating psychological ailments in a controlled and safe environment; and also as importantly, to do it in a time efficient manner.Fernando Tarnogol
I'm a Psychologist from Argentina. I studied at the University of Buenos Aires and graduated in 2007. In March of 2008 I moved to Pennsylvania, USA to work for the Devereux Foundation, a leader and the largest Mental Health Care and Autism Research and Treatment Organiation in the US.
I worked for almost 4 years at Devereux where I managed different mental health programs for both kids/adolescents/adults/elderly suffering from a broad spectrum of psychological, psychiatric and physiological disorders and conditions.
I designed treatment programs based in Applied Behavior Analysis and Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
In 2012 I started developing PHOBOS, an open source VR platform to treat common phobias.
In 2017 I developed PHOBOS AR, the world´s first markerless augmented reality software to treat and research common phobias.
For this particular project, there are 6 developers currently working on it, 2 psychologists and the support of 2 insititutions -2 universities and 1 national science & research council-.
Project Backers
- 2Backers
- 1%Funded
- $60Total Donations
- $30.00Average Donation