18Loop has deployed 25 Oculus VR headsets to kids with cancer and we continue to receive results and feedback. “Our focus has been on Virtual Stress Management, which we deliver through the deployment of the Tripp platform,” says 18Loop CEO Greg Tarnacki. “What has been encouraging is the benefit that gaming provides by stimulating physical activity and promoting recovery in ways that we could not have forecast at the beginning of our study.” Several oncologists have reported that exercise games are a great asset and that our VR is a benefit. We have footage of several kids playing Beat Saber and it is great to see them having fun while they recover. As a part of our results gathering, we are identifying the games and environments that 18Loop kids utilize.
18Loop has focused on mood through stimulating meditation, but we have discovered that VR immersion helps more than half of our research participants to manage pain as well. There are VR technologies that focus on distraction from pain, and in future research we hope to realize a greater impact as we target our technology deployment in that area. Statistics indicate that VR can outperform morphine in certain studies. VR isn’t addictive and also provides a residual impact that lingers after immersion. Some experts forecast that VR treatment will be ubiquitous in future hospital environments.
As we move forward, 18Loop will continue to test the impact of VR in a fully immersive environment. We expect to additionally examine the efficacy of Augmented Reality (AR) through the Tripp AR platform and beyond. The future rests on an Artificial Intelligence backbone, with results being delivered through Spatial Computing (AR/VR), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Robotics. We are excited to have reach in these areas and we look forward to your support for our research and deployment to our kids. Please donate today!