In a compact laboratory in the basement of Goodman Hall, a group of researchers at IU-Indianapolis have been experimenting with how to utilize virtual reality to help people battling substance abuse.
Relate XR, the startup associated with IU-Indianapolis, has created a software that allows users to see their future selves through the lens of virtual reality. IU-Indianapolis Assistant Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neurology Brandon Oberlin designed the product with a goal in mind.
“Each of us has a potentially infinite number of possible futures,” Oberlin said. “We have selected two of those, the two most obvious ones, for addiction recovery with the goal of increasing a person’s preference for and connection with their own future.”
Relate XR’s CEO Isaiah “Izzy” Branam is an undergraduate student at IU-Indianapolis. He co-founded Relate XR with Oberlin. Branam, Oberlin and their third partner, Andrew Nelson, were nominated as Startup of the Year and Tech Innovation of the Year by TechPoint, Indiana’s largest technology awards.
Dr. Brandon Oberlin answering questions related to the virtual reality research and experiment. The virtual reality project is currently undergoing medical trials.
The technology is based on Oberlin’s multiple years of research and began working on the virtual reality project with prototyping in 2018, and he enlisted the help of research assistant Iris Shen in 2021.
Shen, a Ph.D. student at IU-Indianapolis, aided in the development in the technology. She graduated from IU-Bloomington in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She believes the project has potential benefits that reach beyond the stated goals.
“I think this project has developed has a larger impact in the general population in terms of helping to shape behavior in general,” Shen said. “So not only addiction, but this has huge potential in terms of helping things like health behavior, pro-social behavior and any other behaviors that could be benefitting for the individuals and the society at large.”
While early results have yielded promising results, there are still obstacles in the way of the project, Oberlin said. One of the major problems is finding enough research subjects that fit their requirements.
“There are certain criteria that either allow someone to participate or not,” Oberlin said. “A person needs to meet all those criteria in order to be enrolled. When they do that, we pay them for their time, and they do the study.”
IU-Indianapolis graduate assistant Iris Shen answering questions regarding her role with the project. She graduated from IU-Bloomington in 2016.
The technology is well-suited for people in early recovery, Oberlin said. Partially due to the nature of the project, which targets substance abuse patients with high risk of relapse. The project focuses on helping patients choose long-term health over immediate gratification via strengthening their connection with their future avatars.
The lab has received several grants, including a $4.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2022. The lab’s project is currently undergoing medical trials, which have shown positive results in the early stages, Oberlin said.
The grants support clinical trials that aim to test the efficacy of the technology. There are currently several types of the study ongoing.
“We are doing different versions of this study,” Oberlin said. “A person could encounter anything in the virtual environment, their future selves. This is just one of those things.”
