Applications

The use case Tourism 4.0 aims to develop a virtualization system of monuments, museums, historic buildings and natural environments capable of allowing, on the one hand, a "remote" visit through special display systems and, on the other, a more immersive visit thanks to the use of VR/AR systems.

Tourism 4.0 has three actions: (i) development of a system for the fast virtualization of physical spaces through the use of optical readers (photogrammetry) capable of providing a virtual reconstruction of the real environment; (ii) development of an easy system for inserting contents within the virtual reconstruction capable of providing information to the "virtual" visitor and interconnecting the same contents with the physical environment, to be enjoyed through AR/VR systems; (iii) development of a system for the accessibility of historic-monumental buildings that do not have sufficient personnel for surveillance.

The Tourism 4.0 work plan includes the design and construction of a device that allows the instant acquisition of a series of images of an object from different angles, suitable for photogrammetry-based 3D reconstruction. 

Tourism 4.0 products will be validated in the sites of the project.

As part of the survey of historical architecture and archaeological and museum sites, in recent years high-precision technologies have been developed such as 3D laser scanners and, more recently, Structure From Motion (SFM) technologies. 3D laser scanners are recognized as one of the most accurate survey and architectural representation tools. Their use is necessary for the most accurate operations and for the most complex objects, allowing to obtain graphical and modeling results defined in detail. The SFM technique is based on computer vision algorithms and allows to extract the remarkable points from the single photos, thus detecting the coordinates in the space of the points themselves. In recent years, systematic studies and researches have been launched relating to the documentation and virtual 3D representation of the historical architectural heritage, and of some museum sites in the archaeological sector of considerable interest (UNESCO sites).

The innovation consists in the possibility of developing virtual models of both architectural and archaeological historical artifacts, through VR/AR, in times that were previously unthinkable and with appreciable detail.

The use case UNESCO-VR ("Application of VR methodologies to archaeological sites that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site") plans to develop 3D objects for VR / AR scenarios that concern historical-monumental buildings, architectural complexes of considerable historical value and museum sites that are part of the sites of the project.

In MONRAD (Innovative system for monitoring the stability of buildings by tracking the radiation), cosmic ray detection techniques are used for the realization of a system for monitoring the stability of historic buildings, where conservation constraints are rigid and the temporal evolution of the deformation phenomena under study can be of the order of months or years. Cosmic rays are mostly composed, at sea level, of high-energy muons capable of crossing kilometers of rock. They constitute a natural probe that can be used to study the structure of matter. MONRAD proposes to use muons to monitor the static stability of the structures of interest by tracing them with detectors suitably arranged along / around the structure of interest. The expected resolution will allow to measure a drift from the initial static position equal to a few hundredths of a millimeter. The study is mainly dedicated to structures in which severe constraints of non-invasiveness of the monitoring techniques that can be used must be applied.

The detector system will have an efficiency close to 100%, will be stable over time, with low energy consumption, robust and reliable, able to store data continuously and equipped with a communication system to interface with the data acquisition system , control and visualization.

The combination of the information obtained from the monitoring system, combined with a VR visualization system, will allow the creation of a dynamic model of a building or structure that will allow the identification of critical sectors, the prevention of collapses and the planning of interventions. conservation. Knowing, then, the composition of the building's load-bearing elements, it will be possible to model the dynamic behavior following external stresses, such as landslides or earthquakes.

The use case CoReV-Lab (Cognitive rehabilitation virtual reality laboratory) consists of a complex cognitive rehabilitation system based on the use of technological devices that use VR/AR for the treatment of acquired cognitive disorders. The apps that will be created will reproduce environments and activities of daily life and will be used through latest generation devices that can subsequently be placed on the reference market. The use case envisages using a more advanced model of ICT technologies for both monitoring and rehabilitation. The technological tools will be connected to special software that will be developed for the purpose to recreate environments and 3D objects similar to those of real life. In addition, there will be interactions with characters and objects within the virtual environment using appropriate tools. Settings and objects more similar to the real ones will favor the spontaneity of the response and a reduction of anxiety since, being a "protected" scenario, the risks associated with learning in the natural environment will be reduced.

L’iniziativa si basa sulla collaborazione tra i partners of the project BLABS and IRCCS-OASI and, in this context, intends to strengthen the relationship between industrial innovation and social innovation.

The goal of ADnet (Alzheimer Disease network) is to standardize the diagnostic criteria used for Alzheimer's disease patients present in the region through the use of classical methods alongside innovative VR/AR techniques, as well as the 3D analysis of biomedical images, in order to create a database useful for diagnostic, epidemiological and therapy monitoring purposes.

The use case will be carried out in concert with the Municipalities involved in the 3DLab-Sicilia project which will interface with the local family doctors and the various health facilities in the area of competence for the dissemination of information relating to the study, the training of health care operators, as well as for patient recruitment.

The data from the tests carried out by patients suffering from cognitive disorders will be automatically channeled into a centralized database. This information will form the basis for a data mining system through which it will be possible to extrapolate the statistical correlations between multidimensional diagnostic tests (traditional neuropsychological tests, tests in VR, 3D analysis of biomedical images, genetic analyzes) for an evaluation as complete and accurate. of the disease. The phases will be: (i) administration of classic tests relating to the assessment of attention skills, memory recall, language, orientation and the ability to carry out simple commands administered in electronic format via dedicated AR apps on tablets; (ii) administration of tests for the evaluation of executive functions and spatial memory through VR in order to interact with objects and environments as similar to those of real life. Tests on wearable VR devices will be carried out in order to make use simple and manageable for both patients and operators; (iii) 3D analysis of biomedical images already carried out by patients in the various reference centers; (iv) analysis of the main genetic diagnostic markers.

Although Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent form of dementia in the elderly, there is a wide range of pathologies that can lead to a deterioration of the cognitive system, for example vascular dementias, fronto-temporal forms or disease of the bodies of Lewi. One of the most widespread problems is represented by the difficulty in the differential diagnosis between these pathologies which results in the administration of inadequate therapies with considerable waste of health system resources. ADnet will help make the diagnosis more accurate, with significant health and economic benefits.

Capillaroscopy is one of the main non-invasive investigation methods for the early study of numerous microcirculatory pathologies; morphological and densitometric mutations are in fact linked to diseases such as lichen planus, pemphigus and pemphigoid, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, scleroderma, Sjögren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. In this context, current techniques are often limited to the supervised analysis of individual photomicrographs of the periungual area as it is easily controlled, accessible and therefore accepted by the patient. More recently, the optical probe of the videocapillaroscope has been applied to the oral mucosa which allows an easier investigation of the peripheral microcirculation by virtue of its histological properties but unfortunately this analysis does not allow the use of automatic probes and implies considerable difficulties in stabilizing the acquired images. , especially considering the high magnification (150x) and the extremely small field of view (about 1.8 square mm).

SIMAM (Development and Integration of AR Methodologies for Non-invasive Analysis of Arterial-venous Microcirculation to Support Diagnosis) intends to develop an innovative method for the automatic segmentation of images of the oral mucosa and to subsequently extend the study to different districts, in order to increase the number of identifiable pathologies. A Horus200 capillaroscope will be made available by UNIPA, able to highlight individual red blood cells, thanks to its operation in fluorescence with hemoglobin (f = 405 nm). Thanks to it, it will be possible to calculate the exact blood flow and, taking advantage of the high speed of the captured video (up to 120 fps), it will be possible to apply innovative automatic recording algorithms on pairs of frames close in time to view the microvessels. The data will be displayed with an AR interface, in real time or offline, to allow for easy interpretation and to reduce the risk of diagnostic errors. To this end, a software developed with parallel programming techniques will be used that can be run on GPU, whose computational archetype is also spreading in the smartphone market.

SIMAM will make it possible, unlike what is currently possible with the equipment on the market, to extend the diagnosis to further mucous membranes (anal, vaginal) thanks to the miniaturization of the components provided and to appropriate ergonomic solutions. The small size of the instrument and its reduced energy consumption will allow the transfer of the analysis environment directly to the latest generation of mobile systems, such as tablets and cell phones. Finally, since the absorption of the light emitted by the probe is proportional to the depth of the hemoglobin, a three-dimensional reconstruction in VR will be possible, useful for a more detailed understanding of the microcirculation.

The goal of VCC (Virtual Customer Care) is to create a system to support remote technical assistance, thanks to the use of virtual reality technologies, for the "vending machines" produced by the partner ORANFRESH. 

VCC will provide an Immersive Learning experience with a medium degree of interaction thanks to the simulation of complex scenarios concerning the technical environment of the vending machine, guaranteeing the sense of physical presence and involvement, once the viewer is worn, so realistic as to guarantee concrete results in terms of learning and skills improvement. With VR, ORANFRESH customers will prepare themselves to face real situations that may occur during the management and maintenance of machinery, such as the repair of various electrical or mechanical parts, the replacement of critical components, installation and start-up of vending machines and the configuration of the electronic devices connected to them, such as payment systems, telemetry, etc. 

The development of VCC will be done in such a way as to recreate the work environment in detail, thanks to which the user will be able to see firsthand the evolution of an event that occurs in reality during ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.