Project Purple - VR Amblyopia
Donation protected
Our Problem
One of our team members was born with amblyopia, a disorder similar to lazy-eye in which vision in one eye can be lost forever if not corrected at an early age. However, without the motivation or realization of risk, many young kids neglect treatment, not wanting to wear an eye patch to train their weaker eye.
But many modern methods for education and working with children are based on the principle of "gameifying" a task-- making something into a game leads to greater appeal and enjoyment by kids. That's why we decided to help kids with amblyopia overcome their condition.
Our Solution
In order to solve this issue, we decided to create a game or series of games that leverage Oculus Rift virtual reality technology to train childrens' eyes and overcome amblyopia.
By dimming the brightness of the strong eye and playing games heavy on perspective and optical depth perception, children can force their brain to start using both eyes evenly, instead of favoring one.
Our Plan
Our team plans to use the Unity engine to develop our games and software, and to use the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset as a user interface.
Our games will be full of optical illusions, perspective changes, and depth perception, leading to improved coordination between the eyes.
What We've Already Accomplished
As a proof that our idea is reasonable and realistic, we have already build a working prototype of our project, at a University of Cincinnati hackathon (24-hour development marathon) called RevolutionUC.
We won first place at this competitive event with our prototype, judged by a panel of industry professionals from companies like 84.51 and Tata Consultancy Services. By surpassing 40+ college-level teams with our high-school prototype, we definitively proved that our project is worthwile and has recognized potential.
The prototype contains three rudimentary mini-games for demonstration, and full functionality for interfacing with the Oculus Rift and darkening individual eyes.
Why We Need Funding
In order to complete this project, we need two Oculus Rift headsets ($600 ea), and two NVidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards ($400 ea).
We plan to insert the new graphics cards into our existing computers, and connect them to the Rift headsets. One workstation will be dedicated to development, and the other will be assigned for a few months of in-home testing by a patient with amblyopia to measure the effects of our proposed treatment.
Thank you very much for your time. We greatly appreciate your kind support.
Who We Are
We are two seniors at Loveland High School in Cincinnati, OH.
Emily Kiehl
Programmer for school FTC robotics team, software development intern at Queen City Software. Proficient with: HTML, CSS, Java, C#.
Experienced developer, creative and inspirational, experienced with amblyopia treatments and solutions.
Website: emilydkiehl.github.io
Radu Vasilescu
Experienced software developer: C++, C#, Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, PHP.
Excellent strategic and communication skills, accomplished scholar, passionate learner and entrepreneur.
Website: vasilescur.github.io/portfolio/about
One of our team members was born with amblyopia, a disorder similar to lazy-eye in which vision in one eye can be lost forever if not corrected at an early age. However, without the motivation or realization of risk, many young kids neglect treatment, not wanting to wear an eye patch to train their weaker eye.
But many modern methods for education and working with children are based on the principle of "gameifying" a task-- making something into a game leads to greater appeal and enjoyment by kids. That's why we decided to help kids with amblyopia overcome their condition.
Our Solution
In order to solve this issue, we decided to create a game or series of games that leverage Oculus Rift virtual reality technology to train childrens' eyes and overcome amblyopia.
By dimming the brightness of the strong eye and playing games heavy on perspective and optical depth perception, children can force their brain to start using both eyes evenly, instead of favoring one.
Our Plan
Our team plans to use the Unity engine to develop our games and software, and to use the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset as a user interface.
Our games will be full of optical illusions, perspective changes, and depth perception, leading to improved coordination between the eyes.
What We've Already Accomplished
As a proof that our idea is reasonable and realistic, we have already build a working prototype of our project, at a University of Cincinnati hackathon (24-hour development marathon) called RevolutionUC.
We won first place at this competitive event with our prototype, judged by a panel of industry professionals from companies like 84.51 and Tata Consultancy Services. By surpassing 40+ college-level teams with our high-school prototype, we definitively proved that our project is worthwile and has recognized potential.
The prototype contains three rudimentary mini-games for demonstration, and full functionality for interfacing with the Oculus Rift and darkening individual eyes.
Why We Need Funding
In order to complete this project, we need two Oculus Rift headsets ($600 ea), and two NVidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards ($400 ea).
We plan to insert the new graphics cards into our existing computers, and connect them to the Rift headsets. One workstation will be dedicated to development, and the other will be assigned for a few months of in-home testing by a patient with amblyopia to measure the effects of our proposed treatment.
Thank you very much for your time. We greatly appreciate your kind support.
Who We Are
We are two seniors at Loveland High School in Cincinnati, OH.
Emily Kiehl
Programmer for school FTC robotics team, software development intern at Queen City Software. Proficient with: HTML, CSS, Java, C#.
Experienced developer, creative and inspirational, experienced with amblyopia treatments and solutions.
Website: emilydkiehl.github.io
Radu Vasilescu
Experienced software developer: C++, C#, Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, PHP.
Excellent strategic and communication skills, accomplished scholar, passionate learner and entrepreneur.
Website: vasilescur.github.io/portfolio/about
Organizer
Radu Vasilescu
Organizer
Loveland, OH
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