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Photos: It's virtual everything in Cisco's future

Hybrid world: From avatar assistants to telehealth...
By Natasha Lomas, Contributor
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1 of 6 Natasha Lomas/ZDNET

Hybrid world: From avatar assistants to telehealth...

Networking company Cisco has been showing off some of the technologies it's working on in its R&D division - including this telehealth station, pictured above.

Corinne Marsolier (right), from Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group's healthcare team, demonstrated how various pieces of healthcare equipment - including a blood pressure cuff and an otoscope camera - can be used remotely to gather data about a patient's condition during a virtual consultation.

Cisco has been trialling the equipment in the A&E department at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary since January and said patient feedback has been positive.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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This piece of equipment measures a patient's blood oxygen level and takes their pulse - in this case a plucky volunteer guinea pig has 98 per cent blood oxygen and a very low resting pulse rate of 47.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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A Cisco TelePresence videoconferencing screen built into the station allows doctors and patients to come face-to-face for virtual consultations.

Marsolier said the high quality videoconferencing experience provided by TelePresence - while more expensive and bandwidth-heavy than webcam alternatives, such as this one developed by Telefonica - has the benefit of making the patient feel as if they are having a face-to-face encounter with a doctor.

She said the equipment could be installed in shopping centres to make access to healthcare facilities more convenient for people, or in remote locations where doctors are scarce. Marsolier added that telehealth equipment, which links doctors with patients across various locations, will become increasingly important in future as medical personnel shortages worsen.

While the telehealth station does need a trained operator to assist patients, that person does not need to be a clinician and could operate more than one station. She added that patients with chronic diseases could also be trained to use the equipment to monitor themselves.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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Another technology Cisco demoed was a virtual assistant - called Hallie (pictured above).

The software can field basic typed requests such as 'what time is it?' and gathers information from the internet to 'explain' concepts such as 'love'. A user can also interact with Hallie verbally via speech recognition software.

Cisco said the virtual assistant records a user's requests so, over time, it is able to learn rules and better adapt to a user's needs. The software also has an emotion setting, which can be adjusted depending on how chipper you want Hallie to be each morning...

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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Hallie can also be used as a search engine interface, calling up news items on Google associated with 'inflation', for instance. The virtual assistant could also be asked to watch stock prices - and sell shares when they reach a certain level, said Cisco.

In future, the company envisages the virtual assistant being able to act more like a real PA - booking meetings, issuing reminders, scanning emails for important information and conducting internet research. She is, however, unlikely to be making coffee any time soon.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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Cisco concluded its R&D demos with a look at a corporate TelePresence suite, its high end videoconferencing technology. While this tech is not currently interoperable with other high end videoconferencing systems, such as HP's Halo, Cisco said the goal is to open up to a broader set of users over time as market opportunities increase.

The company added it is also exploring ways to bridge the real and virtual world environment, by for instance being able to include virtual objects - such as documents or avatars - in a videoconferencing session. And also the ability to add IP telephony to virtual worlds such as Second Life.

Massimo Lucchina (pictured, centre, TelePresence screen), senior manager of Cisco Technology Centre, said: "We are really looking into this hybrid integration of technology."

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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