At Mobile World Congress, HTC unveiled its Vive Focus virtual reality headset. The Vive Focus includes a large trackpad, two face buttons, and two pressure-sensitive triggers.
In conjunction with the Vive Focus announcement, HTC’s DeepQ healthcare division announced a deployment of HTC hardware at Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital to create the first multiuser patient education room in VR. Using the Vive Focus with the VR human patient education application, surgeons and families can join a shared VR world where surgeons can educate patients and explain surgical procedures.
Wang Fang Hospital will also integrate the VR education platform with the Health Information System (HIS) system of the hospital’s patient educational review system. And after the VR patient education, the public, the family, and healthcare professional’s review will be digitized.
“VIVE Focus can be used as a tool to break down barriers between doctors and their patients to improve care and drive education of patients to new levels,” said HTC’s DeepQ president Edward Chang. “With VIVE Focus, medical consultation can become mobile and more approachable to patients and doctors alike. We’re proud to work with Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital to explore how VR can begin to change medicine.”
The standalone Vive Focus headset features a high-res display with a 3K AMOLED screen and portable form factor that eases deployment in medical and business environments. And the patient application brings more than 4,000 detailed structural components and microstructures like nerves and vessels.
Pricing for the Vive Focus is unknown. But HTC will likely announce it soon as it is expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2019.
Note: This article will be updated when more information is revealed.
