Juan Wachs, the James A. and Sharon M. Tompkins Rising Star Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, was interviewed about his augmented reality research applications on the Sept. 28 broadcast of Inside Indiana Business. Wachs' Intelligent Systems and Assistive Technologies (ISAT) Lab has developed the System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR) project. STAR will improve the effectiveness of telementoring between surgeons, so that experienced surgeons and physicians can direct less-experienced medics in war zones or isolated areas to perform life-saving medical procedures on the field.

STAR is an innovative platform that relies on table and touchscreen displays, transparent screens, tablets, and color and depth sensors to increase the quality of the communication between mentor and trainee. In many remote emergency situations, immediate field treatment telementored by experienced remote medical personnel could save lives.

The technology, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, was recently tested at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia, and was presented at the 2018 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS). Wachs is also working with the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization to develop rural applications for the technology.

Watch IIB's video interview with Prof. Wachs: "New AR Tools Offer Surgical Guidance"