Integrating technology into a “wet” environment like an anatomy or pathology lab presents a unique set of requirements. When the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) new College of Medicine needed an integrated monitor and touch screen for its anatomy lab, they turned to Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America and CyberTouch, a global leader in touch-screen monitor integration and manufacturing.
With the opening of its new medical education building on August 2, 2010, the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine’s vision is to be the nation’s premier 21st century college of medicine—a national leader in education, research and patient care, recognized for supporting and empowering its students and faculty to realize their passion for discovery, healing, health and life, and for its ability to create partnerships to transform medical education and health care.
To that end, UCF called on Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America and CyberTouch to create monitors that provide sharp, brilliant images in difficult environments.
“The Mitsubishi monitors with CyberTouch’s touch-screens make a positive and dramatic impact on learning,” said Ron Knappenberger, assistant director, educational technology, UCF College of Medicine. “We’re the first medical school built from the ground up in the last 30 years, and our environmental focus and our technology proves it.”
Knappenberger met with Mitsubishi and CyberTouch to develop a unique integrated LCD monitor with a low environmental impact that could withstand environments such as those created during cadaver dissections.
“Anyone who watches a detective show on TV is familiar with this type of lab,” said James Chan, senior marketing director, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America. “So we created a product that would withstand fluid and other sorts of materials that can be hostile to technology but are so important to students in medicine and scientific research.”
CyberTouch’s integrated overlay on the Mitsubishi LDT332V LCD monitor looks like a regular digital signage monitor, but the overlay neatly fits inside the bezel, directly on top of the screen. Touch is super-sensitive in spite of the industrial-grade coating that can withstand students’ soiled gloved hands.
The professor’s station is in the middle of a curved (XX) square-foot laboratory, which has four IP-addressable cameras and a monitor poised over a gurney. During class, the teacher can display exactly what he or she is doing; students can watch demonstrations, track dissection progress, research information on the Internet, take notes, and make annotations on the monitors suspended above their own stations, all in real time.
In keeping with an environmentally-friendly focus, the LDT322V monitor is considered a “power miser,” consuming only 85 watts of power when in full operational mode.
“These new monitors are also ‘green’ in ways we didn’t realize,” added Knappenberger. “We used to have one text book per gurney, which would get contaminated and last only one semester. With Mitsubishi and CyberTouch’s integrated touch screen monitors, students have the power of the Internet, teacher’s lectures and their own notes, literally at the touch of a gloved finger. A quick wipe at the end of the lesson prepares the screens for the next class. This way we’re saving trees with an economical, ecological and powerful way to learn.”
Mitsubishi’s MDT521S, MDT651S, and LDT322V integrated with CyberTouch’s high-performance touch screens are installed throughout the medical education building for coursework, digital signage and way-finding; its WD8200, WD3300, HL650U and MJ2850 projectors are in UCF’s classrooms, auditoriums and boardrooms.
About University of Central Florida
Established in 1963, the University of Central Florida is a diverse metropolitan research university that ranks as the 3rd-largest in the country with more than 53,500 students. Located in Orlando, Fla., UCF offers high-quality undergraduate and graduate education, student development, and continuing education, while conducting cutting-edge research that powers the region’s economic development. For more UCF news, visit http://news.ucf.edu.
CyberTouch designs, manufactures, and markets specialty touch screens, touch monitors and related touch products for the commercial, medical, industrial, aerospace, audio visual, military, and other harsh-environment industries. Since 1982 CyberTouch has manufactured and designed custom touch screens, touch screen monitors and touch systems. CyberTouch offers more than 300 standard touch screens, including open-frame, panel-mount, wall-mount and desktop LCD touch monitors as well as value-added services such and turn-key touch integration. For more information please call 805-499-5000 or visit: www.CyberTouch.com.
About Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Presentation Products Division
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America’s Presentation Products Division markets an extensive line of professional presentation, front-projection high definition home entertainment, and rear-projection video wall cube display systems and digital signage monitors that are designed with DLP® or LCD technology, and is known for its award-winning, high-quality, accurate color reproduction technology. Products are sold through authorized distributors, resellers, retailers and system integrators throughout the United States and Mexico. Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America is located at 9351 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, Calif., 92618. For more information, please call 888-307-0312 or visit http://www.mitsubishi-presentations.com
# # #
DLP is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments.
Wendy Spirduso Sarubbi
UCF College of Medicine
wsarubbi [at] mail.ucf.edu
805.499.5000 ext. 5110
A [at] cybertouch.com
nnapurski [at] lionheartpr.com
Source: Mitsubishi Digital Electronics