Founded in 2012, FundamentalVR is a digital health company that uses virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) healthcare simulation solutions to help train surgeons using real-world scenarios. The technology and data insight business specializes in the intersection between immersive experiences and haptics, working to enhance medical training and outcomes.
Headquartered in London, England, the company provides training and simulation education across medical and communications markets. FundamentalVR is utilized throughout a variety of disciplines, including minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopic, ophthalmology, ENT and neurosurgery. The company’s simulations provide a way to accelerate education, understanding and advocacy across skill training, ranging from technical capability development and rehearsal to clinical shared decision-making.
The company’s intent is to provide learners with access to complete simulations from anywhere and at any time. As a core technology platform, FundamentalVR is able to provide customized medical training experiences. These customization capabilities are achieved by employing the very latest virtual reality techniques, combined with the sense of touch delivered through a cutting-edge proprietary haptics intelligence system.
Together, the company’s MultiMR and FeelRealVR platforms offer simulated medical procedures as well as a compelling new way to explore patient virtual anatomy, while showcasing clinical advances. The platforms additionally provide healthcare practitioners with a new safe, measurable and repeatable level of involvement. FundamentalVR solutions feature a data dashboard, and every user interaction is measured and recorded to provide real-time simulation debriefing feedback within a single display. The data provides learners with performance insights, leading to actionable learning outcomes.
Holographic training and simulation is an integral part of FundamentalVR’s healthcare simulations. The company works closely with the Microsoft HoloLens team as one of their global agencies, having graduated from their Agency Readiness Program and been selected as partners for HoloLens development. As a global Microsoft HoloLens development partner, the company has been able to push the envelope of multi-user, multi-location mixed reality techniques.
FundamentalVR’s MultiMR HoloLens system brings collaboration and training enables multiple and remote users to share and collaborate within a Holographic experience. Using the very latest mixed reality hardware and software techniques, FundamentalVR is able to provide shared mixed reality simulation and training experiences.
To date, the FundamentalVR platform has helped hospitals, training institutions, device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to innovate their training. The company’s clinical simulation solutions help to make learning more effective and memorable by using such advanced mixed reality solutions. From familiarisation sessions and workshops, to proof of concept and full faculty-led course curriculums, FundamentalVR can help clients discover the holographic opportunities that are best fit for their organization.
Helping to spread brand awareness and business use, FundalmentalVR’s solutions have been presented at a variety of medical simulation conferences, exhibitions and shows, such as those hosted by SAGES, SimGHOSTS, INACSL, ASPiH, SESAM, and the International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSiH).
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FundamentalVR Simulation Technology Business Partners
FindamentalVR’s medical panel consists of leading surgeons in the field and academic institutions and helps to inform and direct overall platform and simulation development. Led by this expert medical panel, the company provides clinical simulation teaching materials bringing together cutting-edge virtual reality and haptic training experiences.
FundamentalVR has also been working with leading pharmaceutical companies, combining virtual and mixed reality with haptic feedback to create simulated surgical procedures to help further educate and train healthcare professionals. For example, FundamentalVR works with Ascencia to bring a mixed reality experience to the launch of the company’s latest diabetes innovation, Contour.
Working with Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has allowed FundamentalVR to accelerate knowledge transfer for surgeons through an integrated virtual reality in medicine and haptic surgical simulation training tool. The tool leverages the medical VR platform with haptic feedback to bring about immersive interactivity. This technology allows the user to feel the different types of tissue at each stage of a procedure.
Altatively, working with Boston Scientific has enabled FundamentalVR to develop a full virtual reality selling tool that provides users with a means to explain the business benefits of their ADVANTICS program. The experience includes 360 degree video journeys to surgery simulation locations, full CG environments and intuitive interaction and navigation using a ‘gaze’ control. The entire experience has also then been ported into tablet and web form to increase business use.
FundamentalVR’s Fundamental Surgery platform
Launched in August 2018, Fundamental Surgery is FundamentalVR’s flagship SaaS service which delivers a “flight simulator for surgery.” Fundamental Surgery is the first surgical simulation software system to deploy HapticVR, which combines virtual reality (VR) with cutting-edge haptics (the sense of touch). Fundamental Surgery gives healthcare professionals around the world low-cost access to authentic surgical simulations with precise measurement and performance insight.
Fundamental VR works with many of the clinical simulation industry’s most progressive companies and brands to continue to deliver customized solutions and experiences within the virtual and mixed reality environments presented by the Fundamental Surgery platform. This platform provides two modalities of learning which work seamlessly together, HapticVR and HomeVR. The HapticVR platform is designed for deep immersion, using the sense of touch to aid skills transfer; and HomeVR makes for the simplicity and convenience of an untethered headset.
The technology fuses together cutaneous (tactile vibration) and kinesthetics (force feedback and position) haptic technologies into a single platform, which are optimized for different stages of the learning process. By extending different training modalities that have a single user view and one consolidated data record, training for surgeons and residents can be made more flexible, as well as scalability and portability. Such training promotes patient safety, while creating a safe, measurable and repeatable involvement with medical procedures.
According to FundamentalVR, the whole Fundamental Surgery experience is delivered onto low cost hardware meaning that simulation can be within close proximity to the clinical environment. The platform is designed to be equipment agnostic, compatible with any laptop, VR headset or haptic device enabling it to be delivered at a fraction of the cost. The remote data analytics and data dashboard covering surgical skills and knowledge provide invaluable insight into surgical capability and education progression as well.
Fundamental Surgery’s current training packages are focused on the orthopedic surgical disciplines with procedures including spinal pedicle screw, total hip arthroplasty (posterior) and total knee arthroplasty. At the heart of the system is a Surgical Haptic Intelligence Engine (SHIE), which is calibrated to mimic real life sensations of numerous medical tools and tissue variants. By combining immersive haptic technology with low cost, off-the-shelf hardware, Fundamental Surgery democratizes surgical simulation through “plug-and-play” simplicity and at a price less than the average cost of one cadaver.
Fundamental Surgery licenses are now available in the U.S., and the platform is currently used at medical institutions around the world. FundamentalVR won the Auggie Award for Most Impactful Breakthrough for the Fundamental Surgery SaaS software platform in 2018.
