Improving health and wellbeing

Our researchers have expertise in medical engineering, surgical technologies and global health. We are using our expertise to increase the use of immersive technologies in medicine to improve health and wellbeing.

We work in close partnership with one of the UK’s largest teaching hospital trusts and our researchers are experts in medical engineering, surgical technologies and global health.

We continually test and evaluate our research programmes to provide a solid evidence for immersive technologies in the healthcare system. Our pioneering work in this area includes:

• Improving surgery by delivering advances in robotic surgical techniques. We are working to recreate the sense of touch in robotics and develop autonomous medical robots. Our research grade da Vinci surgical robot is the very best surgical robot available.
• Reducing anxiety for radiotherapy patients. We have created a virtual ‘walk in’ of a radiotherapy department, enabling patients to preview their first appointment. This helps to reduce any fears or anxiety they may have. This approach could be used for other areas of treatment.
• Training surgeons in developing countries using immersive technologies. Our researchers are using virtual reality to train surgeons in Sierra Leone. The aim is to develop effective training packages which can help deliver surgical training across the world.
• Rebuilding motor skills and confidence following an accident or stroke. Using virtual reality, the iPam robotic medical device, and the Highly Immersive Kinematic Experimental Research (HIKER) pedestrian lab simulator, we can help patients recover more effectively.