Back in August 2021, LA-based Portl launched a 7-ft-tall hologram projection box for life-like remote communications. Now renamed Proto, the company has revealed that its Epic technology is allowing cancer patients to consult life-size virtual specialists.
Proto was founded in 2018 by David Nussbaum, who took his experience working on huge holograms for arena gigs, movie premieres and fashion shows to produce a hologram in a box called the Epic. The idea is to plonk the machine in a venue, university, boardroom, medical facility and so on, and allow folks to chat with a life-like 3D hologram of a person who might be thousands of miles away.
So instead of a tiny image on a smartphone screen, the viewer essentially gets to interact with someone as if they're actually in the room for a more natural communications experience. LED lighting inside the box helps with shadows and reflections for added realism, the front of the unit is touch-enabled, microphones and speakers are cooked in, and there are AI-powered cameras onboard too.
Last year, an Epic unit was used to "beam" Gallaudet University president Roberta J. Cordano into the Visual-Centric Teaching and Learning Symposium to interact with attendees using American Sign Language. She was able to see and engage with the crowd in front of the hologram machine in real-time thanks to a live camera feed.
Notable installations since include Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a CBS debut at the Big Brother house, a sporty outing at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and a telemedicine application at the Paris, Tennessee, clinic of Memphis-based West Cancer Center and Research Institute.
Though just recently announced at UC Berkeley’s forum on Global Healthcare Innovation, the Proto unit has actually been enabling consultations with beamed-in cancer specialists at the West Cancer facility for a few months now.
"Working with the team from Proto to bring to life, what several years ago would have seemed impossible, is now going to allow West Cancer Center & Research Institute to pioneer options for patients to get highly specialized care without having to travel to large metro areas,” said West Cancer's CEO, Mitch Graves. "Our Paris, TN clinic is one of our 11 locations and we are already expanding to a second location in October and I can see us expanding to several others in the future. The opportunity to live our mission that began 45 years ago, to provide clinical and research excellence for all cancer patients, is further validated with the addition of Proto Hologram."
"We didn’t rush into this – knowing that helping health care providers would have important privacy concerns, we made a serious engineering investment and earned our SOC Type 2 security certifications so that people can trust their communications are safe," added Proto's Nussbaum. "We’re very proud that the distinguished team at West Cancer Center and its real need to reach rural patients is the first provider to establish a program for hologram care."
Source: Proto Inc
