The project offers an interactive educational experience with a holographic screen which emulates a fully equipped viewing point in the Sahel savannah
ZOOHHH! aims to bring Barcelona Zoo closer to hospital patients, reducing the impact of hospitalisation and at the same time helping hospital environments to go digital
The project is backed by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Barcelona Zoo, the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Vodafone and the Fundació “la caixa”, with the collaboration of the Ministry of the Vice-Presidency, Digital Policies and Territory and the Fundació El Somni dels Nens
Barcelona, 18 December - Seeing a lion roar and lash out with his claws as we hold our hand close to him, a giraffe detect our presence and move its head, an elephant try to greet us with its trunk or a tortoise move its head following our hand. All this is possible thanks to ZOOHHH!, a pilot project which uses 5G and holography and which was presented this morning at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona. The project aims to bring some of the animals from Barcelona Zoo closer to children at the hospital, improve their mood and reduce the impact of their hospitalisation. It is also an educational tool which enables them to learn the characteristics of the animals and their habitats.
Promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWC Capital), together with Barcelona Zoo, the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Vodafone and the Fundació “la caixa”, the project also enjoys the collaboration of the Ministry of the Vice-Presidency, Digital Policies and Territory and the Fundació El Somni dels Nens. The participation of institutions, companies and different sectors allows for different spheres to contribute to the digitalisation of hospital environments and the health sector.
Speaking at the project presentation, the Secretary for Digital Policies from the Catalan government, David Ferrer, noted that “projects such as this show the full worth of the government's backing for digitalisation as a way of generating opportunities, not just in the economic realm but most of all in the social sphere and people’s well-being. Taking the Zoo to hospitalised children with a recreational and educational holographic experience such as this highlights the benefits of digitalisation in hospital environments and the impact of advanced technologies such as 5G in the healthcare sector, where it also allows for remote operations, connected ambulances, telecare and more, helping take the strain off hospitals and contributing to patients’ overall health”.
ZOOHHH! consists of a booth which emulates a viewing point for nature. It is equipped with a 32-inch Looking Glass 8K holographic screen, connected to the Vodafone 5G network installed around the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. This offers users an interactive experience with wildlife from a particular geographical region in the world. 3D Volumetric technology from the company Aumenta Solutions make it possible to interact with digital models of these animals. This is thanks to a Leap Motion sensor that follows and responds to the user’s hand.
Eduard Martin, CIO and director of Smart Connectivity with MWCapital, explained that “projects like this give hospitalised children enriching experiences such as going to the Zoo and discovering and interacting with animals in the most realistic way possible. With ZOOHHH! we’re reaffirming our desire to contribute to the digitalisation of the healthcare sector, which is benefiting from emerging technologies.
The 3D images with enhanced audio-visuals were obtained from photos taken at Barcelona Zoo, which is home to the animals. The scientific supervision of the content was carried out by their biologists. In this pilot project, the animals in the spotlight are a lion, a giraffe, an elephant and a tortoise from the Sahel.
Awareness, together with conservation and research, constitute one of the cornerstones of modern zoos which are committed to the preservation of wildlife and their natural habitats. Approved in 2019, the new model for Barcelona Zoo places special emphasis on the need to get out and about with its message of protecting biodiversity and making it reach as many people and possible through illuminating experiences that move people and spur them into action, reconnecting them with nature.
At the same time, the Zoo has always made an effort to engage with people in vulnerable situations, particularly children, regularly offering to collaborate with various hospitals and institutions such as those involved here, the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu, the Fundació “la Caixa” and the Fundació El Somni dels Nens. Participating in the ZOOHHH! project enables the institution to combine these two vocations and also include the essential technology factor. From the Sahel Discovery Centre at the Zoo, the real equivalents of the virtual animals in this project act as ambassadors for this bioregion which is also in a vulnerable situation. The Zoo has strong ties with this area, through various conservation projects.
The booth will be set up for a first stage outside the Itaka building at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, with patients at this facility being the first to be able to make a virtual journey to the Sahel. In a second stage, ZOOHHH! will be moved to the Paediatric Cancer Centre which is to be opened a few months from now at the same Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.
Projects such as ZOOHHH! are possible thanks to the bandwidth offered by 5G technology. This helps the digital world to represent the physical world more accurately, generating new types of interactions with a huge cultural, educational and service potential. Diego Presa, Area Director for Vodafone in Catalonia and Aragon noted that “this project highlights the enormous power of 5G technology for projects that were unthinkable years ago to become a reality today. The high speed and low latency offered by 5G is essential for this to be a perfect experience”.
This project comes in addition to other initiatives such as Hack the Hospital, a hackathon organised between the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and the Boston Children’s Hospital to design new innovative solutions to improve hospital stays for children and teenagers. “All these initiatives have great value as they allow us to gauge other potential uses that new technologies can offer our patients, not just from a recreational perspective as with ZOOHHH!, but also from a care point of view, as is the case with using 5G for monitoring and caring for a child remotely”, noted the Director of Innovation at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Jaume Pérez Payarols.
