What’s Up Wednesday | Tech Edition: First Impressions of the Oculus Go: Will it Transform VR in the Healthcare Space?
Less than 24 hours after Mark Zuckerberg announced the Oculus Go at F8, I was fortunate to have one in my possession. I have been in the reality of using virtual reality in pediatric healthcare for some time now and the idea of a true stand-alone virtual reality headset is very exciting. It may be just what is needed to increase the adoption of virtual reality in medicine.
Purchasing and unboxing
I have gotten so used to announcements made by tech companies resulting in months of anticipation for delivery. In this case, the announcement made on May1st and it was available that day through the Oculus online store, Amazon, Newegg and Best Buy. Clearly I HAD to have one, so I ventured out to the local Best Buy store to scoop one up on announcement day. When I arrived, there were no lines, no hype and it wasn’t on the floor. Hmmm... There are 2 Oculus Go models available to consumers, and the only difference is the storage size — the 32G model retails for $199 and the 64G for $249. After waiting for someone to grab a 64G model from the warehouse, having a finicky Apple Pay experience and providing mentorship to an aspiring medical professional at the check out (I was sporting a Boston Children’s Hospital vest), I had it in my hand. Woot!
The packaging was nice and the unboxing experience was very clean. In the box was the Oculus Go headset, a single controller, controller lanyard, a power adapter, one AA battery, eyeglass spacer, lens cleaning cloth and instructions. No fancy sticker to put on my Macbook Pro to let everyone know I am a true geek and no travel bag which I quickly realized was a fail on Oculus’ part not to include. I did however, find a hairdryer bag that I inadvertently stole from a hotel during my trip to the Virtual Medicine conference in LA last month. Perfect! I plugged it in to charge using the supplied micro USB cable and plug and returned to it about 45 minutes later.
Set up
The setup required a smartphone with internet access, the free Oculus app installed and a Facebook account. After playing Facebook password mastermind for 10 minutes (it has been 3 years since I have been on Facebook — sorry Mark), the entire set up process took less than 5 minutes. Completely seamless. I was ready to Oculus Go!
Experience
The moment of truth…
Headset: On it goes and the first thing I noticed is how comfortable the padding on the Oculus Go is. The padding is thick and is made from a breathable fabric — smells a bit like chemicals right out of the box but I imagine that will dissipate over time. The velcro straps that keep the headset on the head were comfortable, easy to adjust and also allowed the removal of the middle strap depending on personal preference. The spatial audio drivers are built right into the headset and utilize the simple concept of a hollow tube to bring the sound closer to your ears. Think of the Red Solo cup trick that increases the volume of your iPhone to blast Bel Biv Devoe during Nana’s 80th Birthday party. The volume can be adjusted on the top of the headset and although it doesn’t get too loud, due to the design it can be heard by others in the room. There is however, an optional 3.5mm headphone jack built into the headset for a more immersive experience but there is no bluetooth connectivity available for wireless headphones. From the optics side, Oculus said they used their best lenses yet and they weren’t kidding — the optics are awesome. Clearly better than the Samsung GearVR and one may argue even better than the Oculus Rift. The size is comparable to the Samsung GearVR but felt slightly lighter overall.
Controller: The controller sat comfortably in my hand and was easy to use. Navigating the VR environment with the trigger, touch surface, back and home buttons felt natural and was responsive. For those who would rather use a gamepad you do have the option to connect a 3rd party bluetooth gamepad.
Ease of Use: The user interface for the Oculus Go is what makes me think the comparisons to the iPod might be right. I truly believe that someone who has never used VR or even an iPhone could navigate the headset controls, companion controller and entire VR environment in no time, that is how easy the interface is. Huge win!
Content: The Oculus website advertises that there is over 1000 VR games, social experiences and 360 videos available. Where to start? I went ahead and used my smartphone to search for some free content. Upon first startup, education built into the system bring you thorough a tour of the Oculus ecosystem then brings you to the home screen to select your experience. Being in the medical field, I decided to download the RCSI Medical Training Simulation, a free app created by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The simulation started from the first person perspective of driving a MINI Cooper. Other than the steering wheel being on the right side of the car, this was the exact car I drive IRL. I was so impressed with the realistic details of the car, I didn’t see the box truck hit me which ultimately landed me in critical condition in the emergency room. Needless to say, I am quite happy to keep that scenario in the virtual world. The experience then went to a low fidelity medical simulation with the end user switching roles from patient to emergency room clinician. You won’t leave the experience with a medical degree but definitely are exposed to medical terminology, common procedures and tests, and get a sense of the urgency typically seen during an emergency room crisis complete with Irish accents. From there, I explored more content available through the Oculus Store right from the headset.
I then connected my Instagram account and viewed some of my photos and videos I already had uploaded on the platform. The background changed when a video is played to make it as though you are sitting in a movie theater watching it. It was pretty cool to see my personal videos and photography in this immersive environment. It made my time-lapse videos look as though they should be nominated for an Academy Award!
Finally I checked out YouTube. The regular videos looked great in the headset but were in 2D so I figured I would try out some 360 videos from the VRtually There 360 channel to see how the headset would respond. The videos populate in 2D but a quick switch of a setting on the bottom of the video using the controller allows it to be a full 360 experience. Very cool!
By this time I was officially over my 20 minutes per day VR time limit (I mirror Jeremy Bailenson’s guidelines on VR use) but not without being impressed. The headset still felt comfortable and I still had 73% battery left. Not bad.
Conclusion: This is a slick device that is comfortable and easy to use. Other than a small amount of light seeping through the bottom of the headset and the lack of sensors for 3D motion which allows a user to move in closer to objects in the VR world, from the entry level consumer side there is really little not to like about the Oculus Go. Actual storage specifications and battery life are yet to be determined, but I would guess they will be close to what the Oculus Go tech specs indicate. I am looking forward to using the Oculus Go and am excited to explore more of the Oculus content.
So how will the new Oculus Go fit into the healthcare environment?
This may be the first time that I have ever actually read a safety and warranty manual but I figured I could get through the 27 pages. The first thing that popped out to me was the warning to not use the device while driving. Really? But as I thought about it more, the thought of using a computer while driving probably seemed insane just a few years ago and now we have laws around smartphone use and driving. OK, so I will chalk that warning up to human behavior. Additional warnings suggest not to use the headset if you have seizure disorders, vision abnormalities, psychiatric disorders or suffer from heart disease which align with evidenced based findings and also what we follow at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Per Oculus, the Oculus Go is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnoses, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This is on point from a legal perspective. Healthcare providers are still working to understand the best utilities for VR in healthcare and there are passionate clinicians from around the world collaborating to help bring research in this field forward. At the Virtual Medicine conference held at Cedars-Sinai in LA this past March, the work of VR-CORE (Virtual Reality — Clinical Outcomes Research Experts) was introduced. This collaborative and organized approach to VR therapy development and validation is sure to shift the mindset of using VR in healthcare and may ultimately result in the development of a medical grade headset. From a research perspective, the VR space is ripe for clinical researchers and as well as digital healthcare startups. Evidence and outcomes will be what drives adoption in this space and companies such as AppliedVR and Luminopia, although currently not on the Oculus platform, have already shown real patient impact. So OK, the Oculus Go is not a medical device but the passionate techie clinical providers will get it in the hands of patients for sure.
Pediatrics: My work is pediatric focused so I understand first hand the limitations of using VR with children due to the specific pediatric health and safety concerns. As with most VR headsets available on the market, Oculus has placed age restrictions on the technology which states that the device should not be used by children under the age of 13. This is sold as a consumer device so I was happy to see that Oculus brings this right to the forefront in the initial headset setup and even directs users to the small reference manual included in the box to elaborate. Without going into great detail, they touched on actual evidence based findings of using VR with children — minus the academic references though. We know that VR has therapeutic benefits based on research finding with the adult patients using it for pain and anxiety management, etc. We also know the benefits of using VR in pediatrics for distraction as well as pain and anxiety management which ultimately can reduce the need for sedation. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to prove that the benefits of virtual reality outweigh the adverse effects and that is done by performing more research (see a theme here?) in the pediatric space. Until then, I would be reluctant to personally promote this device for pediatric use unless you are using it for patients above 13 years of age or using it for an IRB approved research study and obtain consent and assent from the patient and family explaining the adverse effects prior to use. Of course, I say that to protect myself. As one of the passionate techie clinical providers — I will most likely find a way to get this in the hands of kids when the issues with infection control are properly addressed. On a side note — I was at the mall recently and saw a 4 year old in a VR experience. When I asked the experience specialist what the age requirements were, he said “If they fit in the chair they are OK”. The point is that consumers are already using VR with their own kids for entertainment purposes without understanding the potential side effects.
Infection Control: The exact thing that I love about the Oculus Go is also the thing that may limit its use in the clinical environment. The breathable fabric on the headset which makes it so comfortable is unfortunately porous which does not allow for proper disinfection. Because of this, the headset in it’s current state, should not be considered as reusable patient care equipment. One headset per patient may be hard to justify to the C-suite in this financial climate we live in. It is also recommended not to share headsets with persons with contagious conditions, infections or diseases, particularly of the eyes, skin or scalp which should be obvious for most folks. What is unclear is that the safety manual indicates that you can replace the facial interface if it becomes worn or you are unable to clean them but the replacement part is not listed on the website. If a replacement facial interface or sanitary liner is available and the pricing is affordable (hello startup opportunity) then I would say you have you an all in one solution from a infection control lens.
Ease of Use: As I mentioned in my initial impressions, the Oculus Go is SO easy to use. You are able to view the battery life of the headset within the Oculus app on a paired smartphone which is helpful to help manage recharging sessions without having to have the headset on yourself. The UI is very clean and easy to navigate and the voice interface is actually quite responsive. This is important when you think of who is going to administer virtual reality to patients. Will it be a physician? A nurse? A Child Life Specialist? The Oculus Go UI is so easy that it can make the most technologically challenged clinician a super user. This is a HUGE win.
Content: This is the area where I would like to see a few more options added if the Oculus Go were to be considered healthcare. Perhaps these are my “if I had a magic wand” thoughts, but if the Oculus Go truly became a healthcare headset, I would love to see evidence based content added. I understand the need to purchases licenses from healthcare content creators, but having the option to be able to download say AppliedVR’s content from the Oculus Store using a company issued serial number would be awesome. I would also like to see the addition of parental controls to allow a clinician or child life specialist the option to lock out content such as horror which is a category in itself in the Oculus Store. Again, I work in pediatrics so policing content is a priority but I also understand that the device is intended for ages 13 and up. Also, the option to mirror the Oculus Go screen to stream wirelessly to a phone or tablet would be AMAZING. This option would allow a clinician to see what the patient is experiencing and the ability drive the experience for say slowly introducing content for patients with PTSD. The Oculus Go does have a social feature that allows users to interact with one another in real time to play board games, etc. If this could be locked down to a hospital environment, this really could be a game changer for patients on contact precautions who are unable to leave their hospital rooms. Clearly, the above is a bit of a wish list but when using virtual reality in the healthcare environment we need to make sure the content is appropriate and the clinicians are comfortable using the technology to help with adoption of the technology. Ultimately the drive is to be able provide the best experiences and obtain the best outcomes for patients using VR as a therapy or pain management.
Lack of Sensors: The Oculus Go lacks room tracking capabilities which actually in the majority of healthcare environments is not something that will be missed. It is intended to to be a sedentary experience for end users which is nice for patients who may be bedridden. The experiences may not be as immersive as say the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift but this setup should reduce the the possibility of injuries in the healthcare environment.
Conclusion: Overall, I think the Oculus Go has potential in this space with it’s affordability and ease of use but unfortunately, the lack of being able to properly disinfect the Oculus Go’s facial interface is what will keep this headset out of the healthcare environment.
