Augmented Reality for Supporting Real Time Telementoring
Mauro Del Rio, Vittorio Meloni, Francesca Frexia, Francesco Cabras, Roberto Tumbarello, Sabrina Montis, Andrea Marini, Gianluigi Zanetti · 2018
Background: Telementoring is a real time telemedicine modality that allows a specialist to remotely assist a less expert operator. Videoconferencing is the main means for implementing telementoring applications and has been used in a wide range of clinical disciplines.; Long-distance communication can be affected by misunderstanding and misinterpretation, in particular when dealing with remote guidance. Videoconferencing can be enhanced using Augmented Reality (AR), which enriches video feeds with virtual objects like 3D models, pointers and annotations.; Objective: To evaluate through an exploratory study the impact of AR in remotely assisted ultrasound exams.; Material and Methods: In previous studies we developed a real time telementoring system (CRS4-TELEMED) for allowing a specialist to remotely guide the execution of an echocardiographic exam by an operator. The system manages three streams: the video from an IP cam, showing the exam scene; the sonographic video from the ultrasound machine; the bidirectional audio for allowing communication between the specialist and the operator. The system has been extended with a set of virtual telepointers, superimposed on the sonographic video and the keyboard of the ultrasound machine, in order to allow the remote specialist, which uses an Android tablet, to indicate regions of interests. The local operator wears Android smartglasses (Epson Moverio bt-200) that enable optical see through visualization of pointers.