The Buffalo News

Virtual therapy

Published on August 8, 2005
Author:    Sarah Waldrop - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
© The Buffalo News Inc.

The driver of the blue semi pulling out of the parking lot doesn't see the green pickup in time. The tractor-trailer tries to stop, but it's too late. They collide, and the pickup fishtails and skids before rolling to a stop on its side.

Then the scene freezes -- and backs up to the beginning, playing over again from a different angle. It's not a time warp, and it's not an arcade game. It's the accident visualization program at the Center for Computational Research at UB, and it's one of the ways researchers are using technology to create "virtual" environments for practical purposes.

We're not yet ready for a Star Trek-style holodeck, but these applications are a step, said Thomas Furlani, associate director of the Center for Computational Research.

"The virtual reality that people think of, with the glasses and the holograms and stuff, that's in the future," he said. "This is what we can do today."

One project at UB, the driving simulator at the New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation, comes close to that glasses-and-holograms vision. Created to study ways to help car accident victims who are too traumatized to drive safely, the project involves both engineers and psychologists.

The simulator itself is a purple cab with plush red seats, perched atop a many-legged motion platform that can rock or tilt it in just about any direction. It has a tiny steering wheel -- a video game component -- and pedals on an adjustable platform.

The screen in front of the cab displays a blurry, offset image of the road and the car's dash, which comes into focus when you put on square black goggles. They create the three-dimensional image like the red-and-blue cellophane glasses handed out at old 3-D movies, said Ken English, the engineering design center's deputy director.

Two students start up the "car" and roll down a street that looks much like Maple Road. Traffic volume can be turned up or down and given more or less aggressive properties to simulate different situations, English said, though the crash function is turned off to prevent more trauma to patients.

"The traffic is randomly generated around the world and drives around like normal cars do," English said.

And even in a virtual world, it seems some drivers are programmed to act like jerks. A white SUV speeds around the corner and cuts off the "driver" in the cab, which tilts forward to mimic quick braking action.

Although an initial run in the simulator feels disorienting and often leaves first-timers lightheaded, it becomes more and more realistic as patients get used to the simulation, English said.

"The really interesting thing is the level of immersion that they do get and the level of fear that can happen," he said.

To help them work through those fears, a therapist trained in exposure-based techniques sits beside patients in the cab and works through each session, said J. Gayle Beck, the professor in charge of the psychological side of the project. So far, she said, the simulator and therapist combination appears to be a workable treatment option.

This method allows traumatized drivers to regain their confidence before they're back on the road, where their fears might make them drive dangerously. For example, a driver who's been rear-ended might spend too much time looking in the rear-view mirror and has to relearn the importance of keeping an eye on the road ahead.

"I would much rather have them practice that in a virtual world than on Maple when I'm in front of them," Beck said.

The team of engineers and psychologists just applied for a $1.45 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that would allow the development of a scaled-down version of the program that could be used in therapists' offices. Eventually, this type of therapy could expand to help many kind of patients, Beck said.

"There's certainly an unlimited array of applications," she said.
One might be in the courtroom. Using data collected at crash sites, engineers can reconstruct a car accident from any angle, literally putting a jury in the driver's seat or on the corner where a witness was standing.

It's a more effective way to show exactly how an accident occurred, said
Adam S. Koniak, multimedia specialist at the Center for Computational Research.

"For the longest time, people have been doing accident reconstructions that put up posters and schematics in a courtroom and explain what happened," he said.

The accidents play out on a 20-panel, 15 million-pixel screen that covers a wall at the center. This screen also hosts other visualization projects, including urban design options for a new Peace Bridge and plaza.

In Furlani's vision, lawyers and urban planners won't come straight to him for accident and building visualizations. Instead, the CCR will work with local companies like TVGA Consultants and IBC Digital to help them develop technology for these purposes, and the companies will do business directly with their tech-craving clients.

"We've been trying to do more community outreach and economic development," Furlani said.

e-mail: swaldrop@buffnews.com

Photo illustration by Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Brad Schwagler observes while Sumee D. Barashar has his hands on the wheel
in this demonstration of the accident visualization simulator program at the
State University at Buffalo.

Bill Wippert/Buffalo News
A virtual car crash is projected behind Thomas Furlani, associate director
of the UB Center for Computational Research.

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