Advance Look at the US Army's Virtual Island for Amputee Veterans in Second Life

In the future, severely wounded warriors will be rehabilitated in an alternate universe, a safe place where they can convene with fellow veterans, and communicate to family members in the outside world. By the future, I mean in the next few months or so. Here's an early, proof-of-concept look at the Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space in Second Life, sponsored by the US Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center project, which I wrote about a few months ago. I wrote about why I believe this is a very important real world application of Second Life here.

Comments

[Ann Otoole]

Awesome!

[rikomatic]

great video! Really shows the power of these immersive 3d spaces.

I'm confused about the part about "reading a bedtime story to your children" though. SL is restricted to 18 and up still, assuming this isn't on the enterprise private grid, no?

[draxtor]

Thank you Rik. In re children - the concept is proposed for SL Enterprise & will allow minors to access the locations [4 islands in total I believe]. They are looking into opening part of it to the main grid down the line.

[Extropia DaSilva]

One of the most impressive results of using virtual reality in hospitals has to be the work pioneered by Hunter Hoffman. There is a general consensus that burns are the most painful condition a person can suffer, and burns victims must have their bandages replaced several times a day, which is a truly agonizing experience.

Hoffman designed a virtual environment, a tranquil, snowy landscape that the burns victims could explore (they wore vr headsets) while their wounds were re-dressed. This distracted their minds from physical reality and it had a definite effect in reducing the pain. In fact, some participants said they regarded the times when their wounds were being re-dressed, as the best part of the day!