Medical appointments with a 3D avatar

An interdisciplinary and pan-university team under the aegis of the Department of Informatics at Universität Hamburg will develop intelligent assistance systems designed to facilitate remote diagnosis. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is providing €1.8 million in funding to a collaborative research project on artificial intelligence and mixed reality in medical consultation and treatment. The corona pandemic has highlighted the importance of well-functioning, remote medical diagnosis in emergency situations without the possibility of contact between medical personnel and patients. The goal is to avoid infection while providing care during quarantine. This type of medical consultation is also a useful alternative to on-site consultation in cases of limited mobility, long waiting periods, dearth of specialists, complaints and symptoms that cause feelings of shame, or psychological illnesses. But how can telemedicine be made more attractive to increase acceptance? Researchers in the interdisciplinary research project Hybride Interaktionssysteme zur Aufrechterhaltung der Gesundheit auch in Ausnahmesituationen (HIVAM) want to investigate this very question in the fields of informatics, medicine, and social sciences. Previous applications are strongly based on traditional forms of telecommunication and are, despite their advantages, scarce in the German healthcare system.