The student graduation project of a VR game—“Happy Bubbles” from the Department of Information Management help depression patients walk out of their miserable world. 

“Happy Bubbles” is the first VR game co-developed by the Department of Information Management and Dr. Jie-Yi Chuang, Department of Psychiatry, Cardinal Tien Hospital. The main purpose of the VR game aims at easing symptoms of depression patients. The behavioral activation therapy which used to be conducted only outdoors in the past can now be implemented indoors. “Through game playing, patients can take their attention away from the depressive mood, which helps them get away from their inner thoughts easier. It also activates their brain to receive stimulations from outside to alleviate the symptoms of depression, said Dr. Jie-Yi Chuang. 

The research and development team was led by Assistant Professor Huai-Sheng Huang to guide a group of IM students—Yu-Chi Hsu, Wei-Lun Lin, Shi-Hui Chang, Yu-Kai Luo, and Tzu-Kuan Hsu. Within a year, the team discussed the project with Dr. Chuang frequently. They combine the theory of Psychology and the efficacy of the application in the treatments for depression. The cross-disciplinary co-operation brings satisfactory outcomes. They all hope to help depression patients to ease their symptoms.  

Last year, the Assistant Prof. Huai-Sheng Huang led a student team to participate in the NVIDIA GTC 2018 Annual Conference to present their research outcome on “VR Games’ Application for Children with Autism.” After the first-year successful experience, the Assistant Prof. Huang led another student team to join the cross-disciplinary research in the medical field and earned equally brilliant outcomes this year. This is the very first time the students’ research project is reported by the mainstream media. It also proves the students from the Dept. of IM are capable of applying their VR expertise and effectively executing it on the cross-disciplinary collaborative projects. They will continue their effort in the future.  

Thanks to the report on Apple Daily and the co-operation with Cardinal Tien Hospital, the College of Management would like to congratulate the Dept. of IM on making efforts in their student graduation projects and apply their fruitful research outcome in the medical treatment to bring impact to the society and help more people in need. 

Info source:
http://www.management.fju.edu.tw/en/news/detail.php?sid=83