Augmented Reality based Support System using Three-Dimensional-Printed Model with Accelerometer at Medical Specimen Museums

Medical and nursing students often use medical specimens to enrich their knowledge of anatomy and physiology. Most medical specimens exhibited at the medical specimen museum are in a sliced form; therefore, visitors can only view the planar structure. However, it is important to understand the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the human body in medical learning. In this study, we proposed an augmented reality (AR)-based system that presents a virtual object and realized a virtual hands-on exhibit using a 3D-printed model of the human anatomy by displaying the positional relationship between the 3D-printed model and the specimen, using an accelerometer embedded in the 3D-printed model. The system successfully estimated the posture of the 3D-printed model of the human brain from the positional values measured by the sensor and matched it with the posture of the virtual object. The applicability of the proposed system was evaluated by conducting a questionnaire survey. As per the feedback from the visitors, they were able to operate the AR information by moving the 3D-printed model in different directions, making it easier to understand the actual 3D structure of the human body.