Commentary: Opening eyes to the mixed reality metaverse
JohnD Akkara, Anju Kuriakose · Indian Journal of Ophthalmology · 2022
From Science Fiction to (Extended) Reality The authors of the accompanying article[1] have used the technologies of extended and mixed reality to create virtual holograms for ophthalmic pedagogy. These advances in teaching and learning methods make learning easy and fun for ophthalmic neophytes. Barely a decade ago, much of this was still in the realm of science fiction. Various movies, comics, and novels depicted their version of the future where holographic images would be overlaid in a person’s visual field as the standard graphical user interface (GUI). At the time, it was not possible to build such devices with the resolution or portability of the devices we now have. But that is not all: Dr Mike Wiemer is on the way to developing an augmented reality contact lens which has already been demonstrated in a prototype.[2] This would presumably be compatible with the same software platforms that we are currently using for developing extended reality apps. These include software development kits such as Unreal Engine and Unity 3D that yours truly is also working on. Is Affordable Augmented Reality a Reality? Most of the full-fledged virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices are expensive. But India is the land of frugal innovations and jugaad. There are several Indian startups in the virtual, augmented, and mixed reality space. Many of the low-cost devices use a smartphone for its processing power, sensors, and sometimes even its display, thus spotlighting the role of smartphones in the rapid progress of innovation.[3] An affordable Indian AR device, JioGlass, is expected soon from Jio Tesseract,[4] an MIT Media Lab–spinoff and public subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited. In addition, there are low-cost AR devices such as the HoloBoard and Google HoloKit, and VR devices such as Google Cardboard and its plastic variations. Virtual Reality Apps Several innovative smartphone applications[5] are available, some of which use augmented and virtual reality in a smartphone format to teach ophthalmology. The number of augmented and virtual reality apps for full-fledged AR/VR headsets is limited but there are a few impressive ones. One of them is Holo Eye Anatomy[6] by LV Prasad Eye Institute Centre for Innovation, Hyderabad which runs on Microsoft HoloLens similar to the Eye MG Holo app highlighted in the accompanying article.[1] Welcome to the Metaverse In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the next big thing is the metaverse. Almost everything requires an online presence. Major tech companies are investing heavily and grabbing up real estate in the virtual metaverse. It is inevitable that in the near future, some part of our work or personal life would involve accessing the metaverse via mixed reality. Electronic medical records may be stored in virtual teleophthalmology consultation rooms with perhaps a virtual assistant to help the doctor.[7] Patient scans such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus photos may be examined in AR.[8] Ophthalmology residents may learn anatomy and surgeries though VR headsets that monitor their hand movements and provide real-time analysis and coaching.[9] Ophthalmology e-learning resources[10] may be accessed directly from the metaverse. Even experienced surgeons may operate with mixed reality overlay of patient information and surgical analysis over their 3D microscopes. Iskander et al.[11] looked at 77 studies on the use of AR/VR in ophthalmology between 2014 and 2020 and noted that ophthalmology is well suited for these technologies. Their usage is going to rise exponentially in the coming years. Welcome to the future.