A virtual reality (VR) application to aid genetic counselors in risk data communication!
In today’s society, millions of gigabytes and terabytes of data is available for consumption. Whether it be online or in a print magazine, in the form of words or a graph, we constantly read data. However, do we really understand what it all means? This is where the importance of data visualization comes into play. Data visualization is a method used to translate and organize raw information into visuals that allow for efficient communication between individuals. Engines such as Unity 3D, which is a video game development platform, can be utilized to visualize data.
This project encapsulates the goal of creating a virtual reality (VR) application to aid genetic counselors in risk data communication.
Here is a video demonstration of how this works: https://youtu.be/Z_w8AlPyDWY
The Genetic Risk Reveal Application is designed to allow genetic counselors to present risk to their patients in a percentage. The genetic counselor will be able to input the disease name, the risk of their patient acquiring the disease, and the risk of dying from the disease.
This VR application will immerse the patient in a landscape in which they are looking at an audience of 100 people. An action, such as turning a different color or enlarging in size, will occur to the percentage of people equal to the risk of getting the disease. Then, the percentage of people equal to the risk of dying from the disease will disappear. The patient will be able to see this comparison first-hand in an immersive virtual environment, allowing them to further understand what their risk means. Throughout this process, there will be a narrative text guiding the patient as to what is happening before them in the scene.
The VR Application is meant to work as an iPhone application which can be put into any portable cardboard VR headset (such as the Google Cardboard VR headset) as the prototype was made with public accessibility in mind.
Credits:
Used GoogleVR SDK for Unity
Used “FREE Skybox — Cubemap Extended” asset from asset store by user “BOXOPHOBIC”
Used free “Audience Crowd” asset from the asset store by user “8bull” Link to asset: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/humanoids/audience-crowd-8563 In script “Audience.cs”, modified code from user “Josp101”, a commenter on the assets page