Syringe & Pandemic, An Early XR Prototype for Medical Simulation
- AVimmerse
- Mar 15, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 8
During the Covid pandemic, immersive technologies were being explored not only as creative tools, but as potential ways to support training, research, and public understanding in moments of extreme pressure. Syringe & Pandemic emerged during this period as an exploratory XR prototype focused on medical simulation and interaction design.
The project was developed during a creative placement and mentoring programme in Saudi Arabia, bringing together researchers, clinicians, and emerging creative technologists to explore how virtual reality could be used to prototype medical training scenarios.
Rather than producing a finished commercial product, the aim was to test ideas, workflows, and interaction approaches that could inform future XR based medical simulations.
The collaboration
The work took place during a visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a wider creative and mentoring programme supported by Ithra. AVimmerse was involved in both hands on development and creative mentoring, working alongside researchers and practitioners who were exploring immersive technology for healthcare contexts.
The programme supported a range of experimental projects, each designed to push immersive media beyond entertainment and into research, education, and applied practice. Syringe & Pandemic was one of several prototypes developed during this period, but it became a particularly strong example of how XR could be used to model medical environments and decision making.
What was built, an XR medical simulation prototype
Syringe & Pandemic was developed as an XR prototype focused on:
Medical environment simulation.
Interaction design for clinical scenarios.
Rapid prototyping workflows in Unity.
User experience testing within constrained and high pressure contexts.
The prototype explored scenes including emergency medical spaces, using VR to test how users navigated environments, responded to prompts, and interacted with simulated equipment.
The emphasis was not on clinical validation, but on understanding how immersive environments could be structured to support learning, rehearsal, and awareness.
Mentoring and creative development
Alongside development, AVimmerse provided creative mentoring support to project leads and participants involved in the programme. This included guidance on:
Translating research questions into interactive experiences.
Designing XR interactions that prioritised clarity and usability.
Understanding the limitations and strengths of immersive media in training contexts
Building prototypes quickly and iterating based on feedback.
This mentoring element was central to the programme and shaped how Syringe & Pandemic evolved. The project benefited from a collaborative environment where experimentation was encouraged and outcomes were shared across teams.
What we learned
Several key insights emerged from the project:
XR is particularly effective for early stage simulation and concept testing.
Simplicity in interaction design is critical in medical contexts.
Prototypes can reveal workflow and spatial issues long before full development.
Immersive environments support discussion and reflection even when they are not clinically final.
This early prototype informed later work in immersive training and simulation, particularly around how XR can be used to model complex environments for learning and rehearsal.
Why this project still matters
While Syringe & Pandemic was created in a specific moment, its relevance extends beyond that context. It represents an early exploration of how immersive technology can support healthcare training and research, and it sits within a wider body of work examining XR as a tool for learning, simulation, and decision making.
The project now stands as part of AVimmerse’s legacy practice, documenting a period of experimentation that helped shape later approaches to immersive training and simulation design.
These early experiments continue to shape AVimmerse’s approach to applied XR, including patient focused simulation projects.
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