Heart-VR – Humane Empathy and Resilience Training in VR
Heart-VR – Humane Empathy and Resilience Training in VR
Heart-VR is an EU- and NRW-funded project in collaboration with our partners LAVAlabs, Notfallpädagogisches Institut Essen, and Weltenmacher. In this project, we develop an innovative VR application that uses believable virtual agents to facilitate empathy and resilience training for paramedics.
The goal of the project is to develop a novel training environment that strengthens paramedics' professional, social, and communication skills for realistic and emotionally demanding operational situations. Particularly in high-stress scenarios, empathetic interaction with patients plays a central role alongside medical expertise, as does the ability to manage emotional strain and build long-term personal resilience.
Existing training approaches, such as simulation-based exercises with actors, are often resource-intensive, only partially realistic, and difficult to implement — particularly in sensitive scenarios, such as those involving children. It is such highly emotionally demanding situations that can place significant psychological strain on inadequately prepared personnel during real operations. Heart-VR addresses this challenge through the use of immersive virtual reality, enabling flexible and realistic operational scenarios. A central element will be the AI-supported, natural-language interaction with virtual characters, which responds dynamically to user behavior. Unlike existing approaches in emergency responder training, this development does not focus solely on technical expertise, but places particular emphasis on human, emotionally authentic interaction with patients.
This interactive and adaptive training environment enables emergency responders to practice managing emotional stress in a targeted manner and to improve their confidence in handling situations in the long term. The interdisciplinary collaboration among the project partners brings together expertise in emergency education, technology development, and immersive media. By developing the software in close collaboration with the target audience, a human-centered approach to software development is ensured.
Project Funding
NEXT.IN.NRW
ERDF/JTF NRW 2021-2027 program 🇪🇺
Partner
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LAVAlabs Moving Images GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf https://www.lavalabs.de/ |
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Notfallpädagogisches Institut GmbH, Essen https://www.notfallpaedagogik.de/ |
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Weltenmacher GmbH, Düsseldorf https://weltenmacher.de/ |