GigXR awarded SBIR Phase II contract to develop XR training for U.S. Air Force

In Mixed Reality News

April 27, 2023 – GigXR, Inc., a global provider of holographic healthcare training, has recently announced that it has received a second Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract to develop holographic simulation training for the 354th Medical Group United States Air Force (USAF) based out of Eielsen, Alaska.

According to GigXR, the contract will be used to create immersive learning that uses hyper-realistic holographic patients in order to train future medics to move through a critical checklist to correctly treat severe combat injuries.

The training will be built as a new module in GigXR’s HoloScenarios platform, the company’s mixed reality (MR) application that allows learners to practice interventions using holographic equipment with hyper-realistic holographic patients that can present customizable, lifelike complications. As a result, the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training will provide learners with unlimited, on-demand access to holographic patients with combat injuries, enabling them to practice key skills as often as needed while working in safe-to-fail environments.

GigXR added that high-stress, safe-to-fail situations that it creates will incorporate sounds, such as gunshots, explosions and helicopters overhead, to better mimic the experience of combat care. The module will also include realistic visualizations of injuries such as blast wounds, broken legs, shrapnel inflictions and more. Learners will be able to encounter these immersive experiences in a lab, classroom, remotely in an at-home study space, or outdoors.

“We are always extremely proud whenever we get to build something for the U.S. Military,” said Jared Mermey, CEO at GigXR. “The mixed reality healthcare training that GigXR delivers is built to better prepare for what might be seen in the field. The immersive experiences provide far more advantages to the analog alternatives in terms of realism, cost to deliver, and operational burden, especially when deploying this critical content at scale.”

GigXR’s growing partnership ecosystem continues to power a rapidly-expanding immersive learning library delivered by the Gig Immersive Learning Platform. The company noted that it has partnered with academic institutions across four continents, including nursing and medical schools and teaching hospitals, including: Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, Miami Dade College, Ursuline College, Leeds University, The University of Queensland, Otago Polytechnic and more.

Plus, thanks to the company’s partnerships with 3D interactive medical experts, such as 3D4Medical from Elsevier and ANIMA RES, GigXR’s customers can centralize access and management of 3D anatomy content, which are also complementary to GigXR’s mixed reality applications.

“Realism can be difficult to achieve in medical training. For instructors, it’s not just a question of allowing learners to perform procedures or diagnostics, but immersing them in the scenario that empowers team collaboration, critical thinking and knowledge retention to more effectively apply skills in the future,” said David King Lassman, GigXR’s Founder. “It’s hard, for example, to show continued bleeding on a manikin, but learners need to be prepared for patients bleeding through a tourniquet or chest seal. GigXR’s technology delivers visual and procedural realism that can be especially important in combat training.”

This second Phase II SBIR contract for GigXR underscores the company’s growth trajectory as mixed reality heads toward mainstream adoption. GigXR’s software-led immersive learning creates the digital infrastructure to ensure equal access to the highest-quality training across geographically distributed educational programs. For the military, whose medical training takes place in locations from Alaska to Texas, GigXR stated that the flexibility of mixed reality is key to providing each unit with the tools for success.

“Because of the Phase II SBIR award, any Federal Government Customer that is interested in holographic training can purchase this hyper-realistic training solution at scale from GigXR using a non-competitive Phase III contract,” said Mark Longe, Chief Operating Officer of C5 Business Development Innovations (C5BDI), a strategic planning, management and business development (BD) consulting firm that focuses on Federal acquisition.

For more information on GigXR and its mixed reality training solutions, please visit the company’s website.

Image credit: GigXR