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Queen’s University Ingenuity Lab researchers present their research at the Department of National Defence IDEaS Conference

Creating a New Paradigm for Simulation Based Training by Combining Augmented Reality, Real Time Cognitive Evaluation and Artificial Intelligence.

On June 3rd, 2022, a multidisciplinary team from Queen’s University presented their research at the IDEaS MarketPlace Conference held at the Infinity Convention Centre in Ottawa. Composed of researchers in Engineering, Medicine, AI, Psychology and Education, the team’s research focus was to develop a dynamically adaptive simulation system that modulated an augmented reality trauma simulation in response to the level of cognitive load being experienced by the participant. The research has important implications for designing dynamically adaptive simulation based training and learning environments, as well as for advancing human-computer interfaces more generally.

An example of the augmented reality display used to provide highly realistic simulated patient trauma presentations.

Despite the significant challenges to in-person research presented by COVID-19, the research team were able to generate sufficient data to demonstrate an approximately 70% accuracy rate during within-domain testing, and up to 68% accuracy between domains, matching current state-of-the-art outcomes.

Modulating Augmented Reality Trauma Simulations: A second aspect of the research was developing a compelling and modulatable augmented reality simulation environment that could be used as a stand-alone, or as an overlay to traditional teaching medical mannequins. These augmented reality overlays really bring the “patient” to life, overcoming the “believability” effect for many learners, leading to a lack of realism which can negatively impact engagement and learning outcomes.

Augmented reality overlays enable the modulation of a broad range of patient behaviour and symptomatology in real time, a key to bringing simulations “to life” and to optimizing learning engagement.
Augmented reality overlays enable the modulation of a broad range of patient behaviour and symptomatology in real time, a key to bringing simulations “to life” and to optimizing learning engagement.

Next Steps: The next steps for the research team include refining the cognitive load indexing mechanisms and operationalizing the feedback mechanism to fully automate augmented reality modulation based on cognitive state.

For additional information on the award and research, please contact Dr. Paul Hungler (paul.hungler@queensu.ca) or Dr. Dirk Rodenburg (d.rodenburg@queensu.ca).