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Performance evaluation of AR/VR training technologies for EMS first responders

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Abstract

The first responder training sector presents crucial difficulties on adopting “future of work” online training principles because physical (muscle) memory is considered as important as cognitive memory. It is obvious that physical memory cannot be obtained by existing screen- and paper-based trainings. This paper presents a novel training framework for first responders that leverages augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. The framework incorporates novel design thinking processes that are implemented for the design of the training experiences. In addition, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of various metrics such as performance, time on task, accuracy and learning rate are developed to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed framework. A special use case of the emergency medical services called the ambulance bus is investigated and it is shown that the proposed training methodology improved the accuracy of the first responders by a factor of 46% and the speed on executing tasks by 29%.

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Acknowledgments

The team would like to thank Commander Noble from Austin/Travis county EMS and our contacts at the City of Austin: Marbenn Cayetano and Dr. Ted Lehr; for without their help, this project would not be possible. We would like to also acknowledge the important feedback and research of the faculty team and researchers Dr. Vangelis Metsis and Dr. Mark Trahan. Finally, we would like to thank the student team: Clayton Stamper, Jose Banuelos, James Bellian, Dante Cash, Elija Gaytan, Victoria Humphrey, Shivesh Jadon, Chloe Kjosa, Lorena Martinez, Samantha Roberts, Kayla Shay Roebuck, Chaitanya Vyas, and Shashwat Vyas for their hard work and dedication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

    George Koutitas

  2. Augmented Training Systems Inc., Austin, TX, USA

    Scott Smith

  3. Communication Design, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

    Grayson Lawrence

Authors
  1. George Koutitas
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  2. Scott Smith
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  3. Grayson Lawrence
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Correspondence to George Koutitas.

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Koutitas, G., Smith, S. & Lawrence, G. Performance evaluation of AR/VR training technologies for EMS first responders. Virtual Reality 25, 83–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-020-00436-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-020-00436-8

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