Diego Picazo Erb-Downward
Research Mentor: Kimberlee Kearfott
Mentor Department: NERS, Engineering
Author(s): Diego Picazo Erb-Downward, Estefania Munoz Barron, Kimberlee Kearfott
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 64
Abstract
Virtual reality can be used in research contexts to mitigate risk by simulating dangerous
scenarios without endangering people. The virtual reality simulation DoseBusters is designed
with that goal in mind, achieving this by simulating the properties and effects of dangerous
levels of radiation without posing any danger to the user. DoseBusters is intended to facilitate
education and training in the dangers of radiation exposure. The simulation contains a variety of
scenarios intended to explain different aspects of radiation exposure. The newest addition to the
simulation is an acute radiation syndrome detection and diagnosis scenario. The acute radiation
syndrome scenario prompts the player to correctly identify and diagnose radiation sickness from
a variety of symptoms on a non-player character. Symptoms are assigned according to their
probability of occurrence from intense radiation exposure, and the poisoning severity is
randomized. The player has access to the test results of the lymphocyte count for each NPC,
which can help in providing a more accurate diagnosis. Future work will involve adding depth
and variety to the symptoms and working to include more unusual cases. Further improvements
are planned to increase the difficulty and complexity of the scenario to more accurately capture
the realistic difficulties in attempting correct diagnosis.
