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Abbott wants your blood, and it has new mixed reality technology to get it. At CES 2023, the health tech company unveiled a new mixed reality experience designed to make the blood donation process more pleasant.
Because it’s mixed reality, not virtual reality, donors using the tech will be aware enough of their surroundings, but they’ll be set up with an immersive virtual experience that’ll take them away to a make-believe garden, where they can listen to music and plant seeds that grow into colorful plants. This all goes down while they’re in a health center, needle in arm, donating blood. It uses Microsoft’s HoloLens 2.
In partnership with Blood Centers of America, Abbott designed the technology in the hope of attracting new and younger donors. The effort is based on research showing donors prefer a natural setting while giving blood (because who wouldn’t). Abbott also said in a press release that “one of the biggest challenges” facing the nation’s blood supply is a drop in the number of donations from people under age 30.
