Augmented reality glasses improve real-time spatial tracking and surface-level annotations on the canine head.

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Medical Imaging
• Augmented Reality Technology

Background:

• Accurate spatial surface-level tracking is crucial in veterinary medicine, particularly for procedures involving the canine head.
• Current methods may lack precision, necessitating innovative solutions for improved accuracy and reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility, accuracy, and reproducibility of an augmented reality (AR) interface for spatial surface-level tracking on a canine head hologram.
• To compare the accuracy of direct AR visualization versus transfer from a separate screen for spatial annotations.

Main Methods:

• An AR application was developed using Unity for XREAL glasses, enabling interaction with a 3-D canine head hologram.
• Coordinate (distance) and outline (area) annotations were performed under two conditions: direct visualization on the hologram and transfer from a computer screen.
• Spatial accuracy (distance error, area coverage) and task completion times were measured for both conditions.

Main Results:

• Direct AR guidance resulted in significantly lower mean distance error (2.73 mm) compared to transfer (3.42 mm).
• Accurate area coverage was substantially higher with AR guidance (83.7%) versus transfer (63.3%).
• Task completion times showed significant differences for coordinate tasks but not for area tracing.

Conclusions:

• Augmented reality visualization significantly enhances spatial accuracy for both distance and area metrics on canine head holograms.
• The AR interface proved feasible and reproducible, improving spatial tracking without compromising speed.
• Findings suggest AR's potential for optimizing surface-level spatial tracking in veterinary medicine, with future applications in clinical settings and diagnostic imaging overlay.