Virtual dog new tricks: virtual reality game a creative tool to help manage acute pain
School of Art & Design
A virtual reality game featuring a dog offers a non-pharmacological complement to opioid interventions in acute pain management.
A virtual reality (VR) game featuring a little dog and a simple quest offers a non-pharmacological alternative to acute pain management.
The immersive game, called聽Finding 麻豆社madou, builds rapport between the user and dog, developing patient resilience and coping skills. As such, it presents a compelling distraction to help reduce high dose opiates.
This character-driven approach is an innovative take on VR use for pain management, says Director of the聽聽at 麻豆社madou Sydney,聽Scientia Associate Professor John McGhee, a lead researcher on the project.
By introducing a canine character as a companion in its quest, the game provokes stronger attachments with its users, the Director of the 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab at 麻豆社madou Sydney says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about building connection with character. We designed this little dog 鈥 it鈥檚 super cute 鈥 and you鈥檙e in this very abstract landscape and you鈥檝e got to take the dog home.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e investing in the [dog鈥檚] character, rather than just investing in yourself which moves you away from the internalisation of pain.鈥
The project is a collaboration between 麻豆社madou and St Vincent鈥檚 Hospital Pain Medicine Department, Sydney, and is funded by the and Samsung. Samsung have also donated VR headsets for the randomised control clinical trial. The prototype is currently being tested through the Acute Pain Service at St Vincent鈥檚 Hospital, Sydney.
The project moves to explore alternatives to acute pain relief to complement opioid intervention and, in so doing, to minimise the risk of chronic pain, says Professor Steven Faux, Director of the Department of Pain Medicine at St Vincent's, Sydney.
鈥淩eliance on medication alone makes people feel passive in their pain management. By contrast studies engaging with virtual reality have shown that it can decrease anxiety and distress, thereby helping to control pain levels.
鈥淪ometimes, you just feel stressed and uncomfortable, and the only thing you can do is take an opiate, which is not always the right thing to do. A/Prof. McGhee and I have worked on technologies to give them an alternative.鈥
By introducing a canine companion, the game provokes stronger attachments with users, says lead researcher A/Prof. John McGhee. Image: 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab.聽
A quest beyond pain鈥檚 walls
The VR game has been codesigned by computer animation artists, virtual reality/gaming designers, psychologists and pain specialists. Users navigate an imagined landscape trying to help the dog find its way home.
鈥淭o practice the controls, you throw sticks and the dog has to bring them back. Then you do a number of activities with the dog, building a bridge, finding a rainforest. You have to find the parrots in the trees. It鈥檚 very Australian,鈥 A/Prof. McGhee says.
Using research and published evidence to guide the design of the program was also a key focus of the team. 鈥淭here have been lots of lessons learned in past research about the types of imagery, visual and audio stimulation that can help people experiencing pain,鈥 says聽Dr Christine Shiner, a senior researcher on the project from St Vincent鈥檚, Sydney.聽 鈥淭his research helped inform the design of the program, to make it more than just a 鈥榞ame鈥.鈥澛
Priming the palette
The game uses cool hues 鈥 notably blues and purples 鈥 to placate patients鈥 pain response.
鈥淲e鈥檝e developed the environment to keep the patient feeling cool so we avoided reds, and really intense colours 鈥 it doesn鈥檛 look like a real place 鈥 that鈥檚 informed by the psychology of aesthetics,鈥 A/Prof. McGhee says.
鈥淸It鈥檚 about] trying to cool them down, moving away from that red-hot white pain feeling towards a cool self-soothing environment.鈥
The aesthetic is cartoon in style to maximise the capabilities of the equipment and to minimise the threat of the unfamiliar, A/Prof. McGhee says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a portable headset so it has some limitations鈥 so we had to be smart with the design.鈥
Additionally it had to accommodate patients being bed bound, engaging purely through head movements, he says. 鈥淲e had to make the interface conducive to that very restrictive movement while still feeling immersive and interactive.鈥
The spaces, the palette and the interactions are all informed by research to create a positive, healing environment. 鈥淎ll these little microtransactions and interactions, they鈥檙e all there to make you feel safe. And in doing so, it takes your attention away from simply pressing the opioid button,鈥 he says.
Users navigate an island, following a trail of lanterns through a series of settings, to take the dog home. Image: 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab.聽
A team from the 麻豆社madou School of Art & Design have designed a virtual reality game that could offer an alternative to pain management in the future. Image: 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab.聽
Teach a virtual dog鈥
Ultimately the team aims to build artificial intelligence into the dog, and introduce additional levels to the game, if the initial trials are successful, A/Prof. McGhee says.
鈥淵ou could build resilience into the dog so the more you play, the better the dog copes and gets on with things鈥 like a Tamagotchi, [the handheld Japanese digital pet], you keep coming back to it.
鈥淲e wanted the game to have this kind of stickiness to it so it wasn鈥檛 just a one-hit wonder,鈥 he says.
Prof. Steven Faux says: 鈥淥ur initial results with the prototype have been very positive. If the trial shows marginal improvements, it鈥檚 a win-win. As a non-pharmacological intervention, the game has multiple advantages: the less reliant on medication the patient is, the better the long-term outcomes.鈥
Harnessing the power of storytelling
鈥淭he game exemplifies how creative skills such as visualisation and animation can be re-tasked to directly impact health outcomes and quality of care in clinical settings,鈥 A/Prof. McGhee says.
鈥淎 lot of it boils down to story, whether it鈥檚 immersive, interactive or a linear animation. Storytelling provides a powerful tool for better informing patients, and the general public more broadly, about treatment and the nature of disease and other health messages.鈥
A/Prof. McGhee鈥檚 previous research collaborations have included immersive platforms that simulate scientific phenomena, such as聽聽to help patients understand their treatment (again with St Vincent鈥檚), ,聽and educational 3D animations demonstrating the聽.
He received the inaugural聽Distinguished Research Award for his work with the聽 and was nominated for the聽. He also recently participated on a panel at the internationally renowned that celebrates innovation for social change.
VR for good
The 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab (the Lab) harnesses creative practice, technical innovation and immersive platforms to create world-class data visualisations. Their research contributes to virtual world design, scientific discovery, education and engagement, biomedical communication and clinical interaction.
The Lab鈥檚 visual approach to designing content is what sets them apart from more technical labs, including industry heavyweights in Silicon Valley more focused on delivering new hardware and tools, he says.
鈥Our production on the activity of soap on the COVID-19 virus, for example, the quality of the output was world-class. It was recognised by prestigious animation festival SIGGRAPH Asia. For a small highly effective animation lab to get a foothold there says something.鈥
If the trials of the VR gaming prototype deliver on their promise, the platform has commercial potential.
鈥淚f we get this right 鈥 if we can show evidence that it works 鈥 we could license it to other hospitals, distribute it more broadly,鈥 he says.
Nanoscape: A 3D computer-generated real-time visualisation depicting proteins and cellular processes on the surface of a cancer cell. Image: 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab, 麻豆社madou Sydney.聽
The 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab harnesses creative practice, technical innovation and immersive platforms to create world-class 聽3D animation and data visualisation. Their research contributes to virtual world design, science education and engagement, biomedical communication, patient interaction and immersive storytelling.
Images: In VR App screenshots from Finding 麻豆社madou聽- John McGhee, Mark Arrebola, Steven Faux and Christine Shiner. Created by 麻豆社madou 3DVAL and St Vincent's Hospital Sydney.
This article was originally published in 2022.
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