Medical Design Briefs - May 2021 - 30

today's virtual designs for medical
devices, and it limits the ability to conduct knowledge sharing between organizations that can be critical when designing new products and understanding
the best way for virtual buildouts.
■ Cloud-Based Automation
Technologies Proving Pivotal
Medtech manufacturers are overcoming these limitations by leveraging
cloud-based (or remote-server based)
AR/VR platforms powered by distributed cloud architecture and 3D visionbased artificial intelligence (AI). These
cloud platforms provide the desired performance and scalability to drive innovation in the industry at speed and scale.
Enterprise-grade high-quality AR/VR
platforms require both performance
and scale. However, existing systems
such as MS HoloLens and others are
severely limited in both aspects. Most
enterprises have a rich repository of
existing complex 3D CAD/CAM models created over the years.
These 3D models may vary in their
complexity (such as poly count, hierarchy, details, etc.), making it difficult to
run and excel within on-premises virtual platform environments, restricted by
device limitations. This forces developers to decimate the contents (3D models/scenes) to fit to different mobile devices, spending months in the process
and sacrificing on the overall quality of
the experience.
As these virtual environments become
richer and larger, the problem continues to compound. This cycle is repeated
for each of the different AR/VR hardware platforms, making it difficult for
any enterprise to move from experiments and pilots to full-scale deployable
solutions, thus stunting the speed of
innovation and effectiveness.

AR/VR platforms powered by distributed cloud architecture and 3D vision-based artificial intelligence
(AI) provide the desired performance and scalability to drive innovation in the medical industry at speed
and scale. (Credit: Grid Raster)

The device limitations also severely
restrict the capability of existing AR/
VR systems to generate and work with
very fine mesh with large polygon
count models and point clouds, which
is essential to collocate and precisely
fuse the virtual objects on top of physical objects in the real world with complex surfaces, and varied lighting and
environment.
Medtech manufacturers are overcoming this great challenge by partnering
with providers of cloud-based (or remote
server based) AR/VR platforms powered
by distributed cloud architecture and 3D
vision-based AI. These AR/VR cloud
platforms provide the desired performance and scalability to drive innovation
in the industry at speed and scale.
Manufacturers today are experiencing
the next wave of technology innovation
that will fundamentally alter the way
they operate. This transformation is primarily driven by merging of the digital
and physical world to create a better,

smarter and more efficient way of operating. Immersive technologies such as
AR/VR technologies are playing a pivotal role in this transformation. The
organizations that take a leadership role
will be the ones that not only leverage
these technologies, but they will partner
with the right technology provider to
help scale appropriately without having
to stunt technological growth.
References
1. " U.S. manufacturing sector slows in
September: ISM, " Reuters, Oct. 1, 2020,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usaeconomy-manufacturing-idUSKBN26M6FT.
2. Seal, A., " Top 7 Augmented Reality Trends
for 2021, " vXchnge, Feb. 9, 2021, https://
www.vxchnge.com/blog/augmented-realitystatistics.

This article was written by Dijam
Panigrahi, Co-founder and COO of Grid
Raster Inc., a provider of cloud-based AR/VR
platforms based in Mountain View, CA. For
more information, visit http://info.hotims.
com/79413-348.

Affordable Smart Patches Capture Multiple Vital Functions
Patches with wireless
sensors monitor vitals
without interruption.
VTT Research, Espoo, Finland
Close scrutiny of basic vital functions
supports a patient's care and recovery,
but hospital resources and existing
technological solutions might not be
adequate to the task. VTT and its part-

ners are developing wearable sensors
such as smart patches that are almost
unnoticeable for the user, which keep
track of the patient's basic vital functions without interruption, sending the
information wirelessly to a monitoring
system.
If it were possible to monitor the
status of patients in hospital care
remotely and without interruption,
hospital personnel would be made

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Cov

ToC

aware of early warning signs of a
decline in a person's condition without delay, and they could react quickly. This would reduce the danger of
complications, even potentially fatal
ones, and promote recovery. For instance, early reaction to changes in
vital functions is extremely important
in the treatment of coronavirus patients suffering from breathing difficulties, but as the burden on healthMedical Design Briefs, May 2021

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usaeconomy-manufacturing-idUSKBN26M6FT https://www.vxchnge.com/blog/augmented-reality-statistics http://info.hotims.com/79413-348 http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com

Medical Design Briefs - May 2021

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