AN EYE ON SAFETY NICK CHERUKURI ’12 AND HIS ThirdEyeGen’s X2 AUGMENTED REALITY GLASSES HELP KEEP FRONT-LINE HELPERS SAFE. Many people think of augmented reality as technology of the future, something whose day will come — eventually. But for emergency medical technicians and other firstresponders in the health care field, the future is already here, and given the dangerous realities they’ve faced in the fight against COVID-19, it arrived none too soon. Nick Cherukuri ’12, founder and chief executive officer of ThirdEyeGen, says his Princetonbased company’s X2 mixed reality glasses protect EMTs and expedite the treatment of patients who display symptoms or injuries related to anything from COVID-19 to broken bones. “When this crisis hit, one of our sponsors brought firstresponder use to our attention,” said Cherukuri, who founded ThirdEyeGen in 2016 after his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. “When the first
responders go in onsite, they’re actually at the most risk. They are the ones who are interacting with the patients in the field, and that’s where we saw these two main use cases for augmented reality.” The first of these uses, which became most vital during the coronavirus pandemic, was the X2’s thermal-scanning feature that allows the wearer to get an accurate temperature reading on a patient from five to ten meters away without any physical contact. The second application — the one Cherukuri says has the more significant long-term applications — is telehealth. The X2 is equipped to send real-time audio and video to hospitals hundreds or even thousands of miles away, enabling doctors to see everything the EMT can see, while freeing EMTs to apply first aid to patients. “Obviously, we’re trying to help in this current crisis, but even when this subsides, the telehealth applications will be there,” he explained, adding that the X2’s multiple screens and facial-recognition technology can link almost instantly to a patient’s medical history. In many ways, the augmented-reality glasses recall the era of a doctor’s house call — albeit virtually. “In a rural area, for example, a nurse could wear the glasses and a doctor can provide live telehealth,” Cherukuri said. The X2 glasses weigh just 9.8 ounces and feature a 42-degree field of sight and 5G compatability, and at a unit price of $1,800, the technology seems like a bargain when compared with an iPhone 11 Pro Max, which retails at $1,100.
Introduced in 2019, the glasses were pressed into battle against COVID-19 in the Philadelphia area when the fire department in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, received eight X2 sets courtesy of Sunoco Pipeline, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer and a major employer in the heavily industrialized municipality. “Awesome — very awesome,” Chief Ken Smith of the Marcus Hook Trainer Fire Department told Philadelphia’s 6ABC Action News at an April 15 press conference announcing the donation. “We couldn’t be happier than to be part of this new step in technology.” Cherukuri’s ThirdEyeGen innovation is not limited to health care, though. He said that manufacturing, field services, and industrial companies are also buying the X2, noting that the same technology that enables medics to immediately consult with doctors enables an aircraft mechanic to check with an expert. Likewise, an architect can virtually visit a proposed construction site to examine the terrain.
The X2’s health care applications are diverse, however, especially when the glasses are worn by patients, such as those with impaired vision. “We’re working with a lot of companies that have software on the glasses to help someone who’s visually impaired – or maybe even blind – be able to see properly by providing them feedback of what’s in front of them and other type of data,” Cherukuri explained, adding that the user-friendliness of the X2 is eventually going to make such products ubiquitous. “One of the reasons the iPhone took off is the user interface is so friendly. On these glasses, as well, we try to make it really simple, using head motion or voice commands,” he said. “The reason augmented reality is considered the future of technology is it’s basically a phone on your face. In five to ten years, a lot of people anticipate that these will eventually replace your handheld phone.”
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