January 2008 Archives

The presentation went really well. Dr. Budde and Dr. Pott showed some examples of different types of simulations, which were more complex than the one we developed, however, what we developed is much more attainable by more people. After they showed examples of different computer-based simulations, and Dr. Pott led them in an exercise in creating a decision tree on index cards, it was my turn to show the proof of concept I'd developed for Dr. Pott and speak about the multimedia developer's perspective. The idea was that people would have a better understanding of what it takes to develop such a Flash-based simulation and what they will need to know and do to approach a developer to create a simulation. I showed them how I took Dr. Pott's decision tree and translated it into a FileMaker Pro database, exported an XML file from FileMaker, and imported it into Flash where it ran the simulation. There were very close to 50 attendees at our workshop, and the feedback we received during and after the workshop was quite positive. I had many questions from attendees, and had to cut them a bit short to end our workshop on time.

After the workshop (and lunch), I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the vendor exhibits, since the presentations that were left that day were not of value to me. The exhibits were pretty amazing. One of the most memorable was from Forterra (http://www.forterrainc.com/), who creates a virtual world very much like Second Life as a virtual training ground for many different types of disciplines. The salesman was demonstrating a simulation that had a scale replica of Baghdad, where military personnel can go in and train together. He said that he was involved with simulations in the first gulf war. They practiced the whole plan for the first day many times before the first shots were ever fired. This involved taking out Iraqi radar and early warning systems and placing forward observers behind enemy lines to coordinate the attack. Attack helicopters paved the way for armored vehicles that cut through the enemy installations. I can just imagine the distinct advantage we had by practicing such a large scale attack before it took place. Other types of training they would do was for first responders to a terrorist dirty bomb attack in a major U.S. city (can't remember which one) where they again had a scale model of the city to walk around in and even the university hospital where the injured were taken was recreated in incredible detail. You could actually read all the signs on the walls. There were police, firemen, haz-mat teams, and FBI-types all training together on the simulated emergency from the scene of the incident to the surgery rooms where the injured were transported. This was quite an amazing piece of work!

Most of the other simulations either dealt with teaching haptic motor skills (where you control instruments while looking at a computer monitor much like surgeons do - videoendoscopic surgery). Some taught you skills such as using the controls to sew stitches (pretty difficult), controlling a camera and laser to zap tumors, or just generally getting the feel of moving things with the controls. I found these activities very difficult to do in my initial attempts and I figure it must take many hours on the simulators to get the feel of it. 

Most of the other displays dealt with simulated body parts and mock patients, many of which were hooked to computers to provide patient feedback or to control the patient's reactions. There were infant models, genitals to practice urology/gynecology procedures, a life-sized birthing model, and even models that had severe trauma, such as severed legs. Something for everyone, I guess. It was both morbid, in a way, and fascinating to see all of that in one big room.

After the vendor room closed, I took a couple hours to walk along the oceanfront. No beach, but a paved walkway. I took lots of pix with my phone's camera. http://flickr.com/photos/besong On Wednesday I had to catch a 9:00 AM flight to Atlanta, so I couldn't attend the closing sessions. They really didn't seem applicable to what I do anyway. Too bad I didn't stay another day in San Diego, however. We flew into Atlanta where they were having an unusual snow/ice storm. When I boarded my plane for State College at 5:00 PM, they announced that they were backed up with de-icing planes and it would take us an hour to leave. There we sat for the next hour or so in the plane. Finally we were given clearance to taxi to the runway to get in line for de-icing. Again, there we sat for the next 3 hours on the tarmac until the pilot said that they were giving international flights priority for de-icing and that they only had one set of equipment (for the "busiest airport in the world") to de-ice. He said they were doing 4 planes per hour and that there were 12 planes ahead of us. That would put our departure time at about midnight, but due to FAA regulations, the pilot would have had to have the plane in State College parked by 11:20 or it was a no-go. Besides that, we had used up most of our gas idling on the tarmac. The flight was canceled and we didn't get to deplane until about 9:50, almost 5 hours after we boarded. After some confusion I was able to get confirmed on the next flight out (5:20 the next day). Luckily I have a brother that lives about 30 miles or so from the Atlanta airport and I stayed with him that night. So, it worked out for the best I guess. I got to visit with my brother and his family before heading back the next day. I sure was glad to land in State College. Amazingly my luggage was there, too. I thought of the palm trees and 74° weather as I scraped about 3" of snow off my car in the airport parking lot.