Confidential
I was escorted on to the third fleet base by my mentor Lieutenant Commander Jose Dominguez for my internship with the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in the Physiological and Cognitive Operational Research Environment (PhyCORE) department. The NHRC specializes in research but they recently began to accept patients for physical therapy. The testing at the NHRC includes sleep studies and combat gear testing to name a few. The patients who came in have injuries ranging from amputation to brain trauma, many things pertaining to vestibular problems. In order for the NHRC to continue with their current staff they need to receive research grants for their different projects. Even though they are trying to get into seeing more patients for physical therapy they still have to do enough research to keep going.
The CAREN (Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment) is the main piece of technology that the NHRC has. It is what they use in some way for majority of their research projects and for all of the physical therapy. The CAREN is helpful because it simulates walking on uneven terrain while you are immersed in a virtual reality environment. The CAREN is incredibly beneficial and is able to help people make incredible progress in walking improvement for people who have prosthetic legs or other vestibular problems. There are only four CAREN machines in the DoD so the NHRC is very unique in that they have one. The CAREN works by having the person stand on a platform that can move in many different ways such as up and down, side to side, rolling and any combination of those. The person can be walking or standing on the treadmill while immersed in a virtual reality on the screen.
As a part of the CAREN there is a shooting system that uses physical airsoft guns to interact with the system. For example when a target appears on the screen you shoot it and the computer and the gun should interact seamlessly but that is not always the case. The biggest problem that needed to be solved when I was there was that the sights on the gun did not line up with the crosshairs on the screen. This was due to some different things but one major issue was that since the screen is curved it requires three projectors to cover all of it. This causes problems because the projectors have to blend together in the overlap and many times the blending is not perfect messing up the image and the aiming of the shooting system. The problem was eventually solved through coding and lots of testing by the people who work in the department. but it took majority of the time I was there and I have a feeling it will require constant attention until the blending issue is finally solved.
For my project I was asked to create two videos, one that highlighted the CAREN and its capabilities and the other to show the testing and evaluation equipment in the PhyCORE department. That required me to do a lot of filming due to out of date videos. During the filming process I was able to get footage very easily as long as I was able to maintain the confidentiality of anyone that I needed to. I spent most of my time filming then putting the new pictures and videos into the appropriate video. I also was able to help in other ways but the majority of my time was with the video. At one point I found a 3D graphic and sounds to make one of the CAREN applications more festive for valentines day. I was also asked to do some research for an upcoming project that involves some very new military technology.
My internship experience was incredibly inspiring and I learned a lot about what it means to work and contribute to a company. Internship inspired me to work hard in school so that I can get into a good college and then hopefully find a job that is as interesting and rewarding as the jobs at the NHRC. Internship showed me what I am working towards when I am sitting in class doing a math problem or writing an essay.