Early this October, Our very own Dr. Phillip Post and Michael Hout revealed very exciting technology. The Addison Care Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Lab as it’s known was made possible by very generous donations from Electronic Caregivers, totaling more than $350,000 in gifts and donations to NMSU. Dr. Post and Michael Hout have been finding ways to give VR more educational and real world application.
They do this by recreating real life scenarios such as cords along the floor, a cat moving around the house, and other obstacles an elder has to face daily. This will also give perspective to students so they can recognize hazards that may not effect them. Along with this, there are simulations of relaxing vacation spots that can “take away” the user into another world for an hour and get away from any troubles they may have.
As Dr. Post and Hout continue making breakthroughs in elderly living, this technology has many possibilities beyond this. Being able to simulate search & rescue scenarios, and even rehabilitation through almost living inside VR. This laboratory is very important research as it could make strides in rehabilitating and making elderly care environments like nursing homes a lot safer. We here at the Kinesiology & Dance Department are very excited to see where this technology goes and wish everyone on the team best of luck!
