When Immersive Technology Becomes Part of Everyday Care
A recent CTV News story highlighted how residents at one of our client’s care communities in Alberta are experiencing VirCube FLEXI and how a different approach to immersive technology can open new possibilities in senior care.
See the Story
Our client’s implementation was recently covered by CTV News.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/new-vr-tech-gives-assisted-living-facility-residents-a-chance-to-explore-world/
When people hear “virtual reality,” they often picture one thing: a person wearing a VR headset and experiencing a digital world on their own.
That approach can be powerful, but it is not always the easiest fit for senior care.
For some older adults, wearing a headset may feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable. It can also visually separate the participant from the people around them, while staff may need to spend more time helping with fitting, controls and supervision.
VirCube FLEXI takes a different approach.
Instead of asking the resident to wear the virtual world, the immersive environment is created around them.
Using immersive projection, residents can experience virtual destinations, interactive activities and immersive environments while still seeing and hearing the staff, family members or other residents beside them.
That difference may sound simple, but in a care environment, it can change the whole experience.
From an Individual VR Experience to a Shared Experience
Traditional head-mounted VR is generally designed around one person wearing one device.
VirCube FLEXI creates a physical immersive space that can be experienced together.
A resident can sit in a wheelchair and explore a destination while a staff member talks with them about what they are seeing.
Several residents can enjoy an activity together.
A family member can stand beside a resident and share the moment.
And staff can remain part of the experience rather than watching from outside a headset.
This is especially important in senior care, where the value of an activity is often not only the activity itself.
It is also the conversation, interaction and connection that happen around it.
A recent CTV News story showed some of these possibilities through the experiences of residents at one of our client’s Alberta care communities.
For us, that is the bigger story behind immersive technology.
It is not simply about taking someone somewhere virtually.
It is about what that experience can help create in the real world.
What It Can Mean for Residents
As mobility changes, some residents may have fewer opportunities to travel, explore new environments or participate in activities they once enjoyed.
Immersive technology can provide another way to bring variety into their everyday experience.
A virtual journey may reconnect someone with a familiar destination.
A nature environment may offer a change of pace and a relaxing experience.
An interactive activity may encourage reaching, responding, observing or moving.
A familiar place may bring back a story from earlier life.
And for a resident who finds traditional controllers or headsets difficult to use, a more open environment may provide another way to participate.
The objective is not to replace real travel, real activities or human interaction.
It is to create more opportunities where those options may otherwise be limited.
We see particular potential in experiences that support:
- virtual travel and exploration
- reminiscence and storytelling
- social participation
- light movement and interaction
- cognitive engagement
- relaxation and sensory experiences
- culturally familiar and personalized content
Most importantly, residents can experience these activities without being visually isolated from the people around them.
What It Can Mean for Care and Recreation Staff
Technology in senior care also needs to work for the people delivering the activity.
If a system requires complicated preparation every time it is used, it can quickly become difficult to integrate into a busy care environment.
VirCube FLEXI is designed so that staff can control the experience while remaining engaged with residents.
Instead of fitting individual headsets and managing several separate devices, staff can facilitate a shared activity within one immersive environment.
This can make it easier to use technology as part of an existing recreation or engagement program rather than treating it as a completely separate activity.
And the content itself can become a useful tool for staff.
A virtual visit to a familiar city may prompt a resident to talk about where they grew up.
A market, farm or railway experience might lead to stories about work or family life.
A destination chosen around a resident’s interests may help staff discover something new about that person.
In this way, immersive technology can become more than an entertainment system.
It can become another tool for engagement.
For frontline teams, the potential value is therefore not simply “having VR.”
It is having another flexible way to start an activity, encourage participation and create conversation.
What It Can Mean for the Care Organization
For a care home or senior-living organization, introducing new technology also raises practical questions.
Will residents actually use it?
Can people with different abilities participate?
Will staff feel comfortable operating it?
Can it support individual activities as well as group programming?
And will it continue to be useful after the novelty of new technology wears off?
These questions have influenced how we developed VirCube FLEXI.
Because the experience is headset-free and can accommodate seated or wheelchair users, the same environment can serve residents with a range of mobility levels.
Because it is a shared space, it can support both individual and group programming.
And because the experience can include different types of content — travel, relaxation, interactive activities, movement and personalized 360° video — one system can support a variety of programming objectives.
For facilities, this can mean creating a more flexible activity resource rather than purchasing technology for only one narrowly defined use.
It can also become something families can experience with residents, giving the technology a role beyond scheduled recreation sessions.
Head-Mounted VR and Headset-Free Immersion Serve Different Needs
We do not believe one form of immersive technology needs to replace another.
Head-mounted VR can offer a highly personal and visually enclosed experience and can be appropriate for many applications.
But senior care presents a different set of considerations.
Residents may have different levels of mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and comfort with technology. Staff also need to supervise activities, communicate with participants and manage group programming.
That is why we believe headset-free immersion deserves a place alongside conventional VR.
The key difference is not simply the hardware.
It is the experience around the person.
With a headset, the user enters the virtual environment.
With VirCube FLEXI, the virtual environment comes to the user.
That allows the resident to remain connected to the room, the staff member and the people sharing the experience with them.
Moving Toward More Person-Centred Immersive Care
The next step, in our view, is personalization.
Imagine a resident revisiting the city where they grew up.
Someone experiencing a cultural celebration that feels familiar.
A resident exploring a destination they once visited with their family.
A recreation team using 360° content related to residents’ interests.
Or family members contributing meaningful locations and experiences that can become part of a reminiscence activity.
The technology itself is only the platform.
What matters is what we choose to bring into that space.
This is why we believe the future of immersive senior care will not simply be about having more VR content.
It will be about creating experiences that are increasingly relevant to the individual — their history, culture, interests and abilities.
Because person-centred care deserves person-centred technology.
Technology Should Support Care, Not Complicate It
At Motive Force Tech Canada, our goal is not to introduce technology simply because it is new.
We want to understand where technology can genuinely contribute to the everyday work already happening inside care communities.
For residents, that may mean more opportunities to explore, participate, remember and connect.
For staff, it may mean another practical tool for creating meaningful activities and conversations.
For the facility, it may mean a flexible platform that can support different residents, different programs and different types of engagement over time.
The recent CTV News story offered a glimpse of what that can look like in practice.
And for us, this is still only the beginning.
We will continue learning alongside care organizations, staff, residents and families to understand how immersive technology can become more accessible, more personal and more useful in everyday care.
Because ultimately, the goal is not to make senior care look more high-tech.
It is to use technology to create more meaningful human experiences. The technology may be virtual. The moments it creates are very real.
