Creations

Attack of the S. mutans!→ more information

The new game-based approach to improving oral health, Attack of the S. mutans! engages visitors in a battle against bacteria. Wearing 3D polarized glasses and using hand-held controllers, visitors lean the fundamental reasons why we need to brush and take care of our teeth. Highlighting the interaction between acid producing bacteria, enamel and remineralization with fluoride, this multi-level game delivers increasing challenge and complexity.

Pain Control → more information

Burn pain is the most intense pain there is. Dr. Hunter Hoffman and Dr. David Patterson of Harborview Hospital (Seattle) are advancing the treatment of burn wound care using VR therapy worlds such as SnowWorld. MRI scans empirically illuminate the power of highly immersive and engaging virtual worlds to significantly reduce pain. Organizations interested in using SnowWorld, Please contact us for information on customized VR systems, training and support.

SnowWorld 3 was selected for the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum's Design Life Now: National Design Triennial which toured major U.S. cities in 2006-8.

Treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) → more information

Significant numbers of US veterans are returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD. A research team headed by Dr. Sarah Miyahira (Tripler Army Med. Center) and Dr. Hunter Hoffman (U.W. Seattle) is using IraqWorld, designed and built by Firsthand, as a new therapeutic tool to treat these soldiers. Other Firsthand PTSD therapy applications are being used to help civilian survivors of terrorist attacks, including Bus Bomb Survivor, created for Dr. Tamar Weiss (Univ. of Haifa, Israel).

Training Sim for Oral Anesthesia → more information

When dental hygienic students learn how to administer oral anesthetic, the common practice is for them to learn and perfect their technique using volunteer patients.

Tools for Business and Consumer Research → more information

Nimbus Online is an international business consulting and consumer research firm serving a wide range of industries including health care, financial services, high tech, retail and food services. Success for their clients requires tools to collect and transform complex and diverse research data into meaningful business strategies. Firsthand is providing customized graphical tools and integrated behaviormetric technology systems that give Nimbus Online and their clients an edge against their competition.

Treating Phobias with VR Exposure Therapy → more information

VR simulations are proving effective for treating people plagued by intense phobias of many varieties. The therapy works by allowing the patient to desensitize to the fear through controlled, graded exposure. SpiderWorld, created for psychologist and leading VR researcher, Dr. Hunter Hoffman, is one of the ground breaking applications of this emerging field.

Complex Adaptive Systems Training: GroupMind → more information

It is tough to make critical decisions in a vacuum! Up to 100 people work together to pilot a spacecraft through a series of obstacles and objectives. This is a fun and massively multi-user simulation employed by the BIOS Group to educate executives about how complexity theory and de-centralized control can be used to more efficiently conduct business. It is a wild real-time 3D experience complete with asteroids, comets, caverns, nebulae, a binary star system, and a space station!

Zengo Sayu: Japanese Language Learning→ more information

Zengo Sayu is a virtual environment where students learn Japanese through direct experience with the language. The environment is populated with objects that talk and help students learn vocabulary, sentence structures and grammar through meaningful, self-directed activities. This virtual reality approach for teaching foreign language enables students to take control of their own learning and explore the language in an environment built to support them.