Katana Simulations develops realistic simulations for cognitive training and assessment

Virtual Simulation Software Suite

SIM:Classroom

For teachers, researchers and clinicians alike - simulate complex classroom interactions, distractions and educational content.

Wonderworks

A comprehensive vocational simulation and structured training of cognitive abilities to assess and train complex attention functions.

SIM:Kitchen

Simulate activities of daily living - assess problem solving, sequencing, planning and working memory in this interactive virtual kitchen environment.

Katana Simulations is working closely with clinicians, researchers, and patients to develop and evaluate cognitive training and assessment tools.

Katana Simulations specializes in the design, development and validation of realistic virtual simulations for performance assessment and training. Based on over ten years of research and development and extensive clinical experience, Katana Simulations has created a Virtual Simulations Software Suite for a wide range of everyday tasks and challenges which provides key metrics for rehabilitation, education, and training.

Virtual Simulation: Classroom

 

The Virtual Simulation: Classroom (Sim:Classroom) is an advanced research and diagnostic tool capable of simulating complex classroom interactions. With full control over student and teacher behavior, distractions and course content, researchers and clinicians alike can customize the Virtual Simulation to their specific needs.

For clinicians, Sim:Classroom serves as a diagnostic tool for children with attention disorders. 

Researchers currently leverage the flexibility and realism of Sim:Classroom in research trials which investigate the benefits of virtual scenarios on assessing and treating attention disorders. An additional module containing educational content for teacher trainees is currently being developed in collaboration with Paderborn University, Germany. Please contact us if you are interested in applying the Virtual Simulation: Classroom to your research projects.

See our Research section for published studies about Sim:Classroom.

 

 
Simulated parent conversation to discuss the student's progress.

Simulated parent conversation to discuss the student's progress.

Simulated class environment with interactive students and distractions.

Simulated class environment with interactive students and distractions.

First-person immersive classroom environment to assess and train attention.

First-person immersive classroom environment to assess and train attention.

Wonderworks

 

Wonderworks is a comprehensive training and assessment tool for people with cognitive deficits. The simulation provides a series of meaningful, motivating assessment and training scenarios that accurately replicate real-life challenges in vocational settings.

Clinicians and Researchers can utilize Wonderworks for training and assessment of attention deficits in brain-injured patients. The simulation's training component is undergoing extensive testing for eventual medical device registration. Please contact Denise Krch, PhD, for research inquiries and Sebastian Koenig, PhD, for any other inquiries.

Wonderworks was developed in collaboration with Kessler Foundation in West Orange, NJ, USA, with input from clinicians, researchers and patients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.

 
Sorting documents to train set shifting.

Sorting documents to train set shifting.

Training divided attention at a virtual office desk.

Training divided attention at a virtual office desk.

Virtual Simulation:Kitchen

 

The Virtual Simulation:Kitchen (Sim:Kitchen) provides a realistic scenario to assess and train everyday skills in clinical populations. Distractions and complex sequences of cooking, cleaning, sorting and similar skills involving attention, executive functions and memory can be simulated. Sim:Kitchen has been developed as a non-immersive mobile application (Android) and an immersive application for modern Virtual Reality systems (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest).

Clinicians and researchers alike are utilizing Sim:Kitchen for the assessment and training of attention and executive functions. Assessment scenarios, such as making a cup of tea or preparing a breakfast, have adjustable degrees of difficulty and include real-life distractions to increase relevance to real-life situations. If you are interested in using the Sim:Kitchen in your research studies, contact us.

Sim:Kitchen is currently undergoing user testing with speech pathologists at the University of Queensland’s RECOVER Injury Research Centre, Australia as well as Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre and Brain Injury South Australia in Adelaide, Australia.

 
Interacting with virtual characters in an immersive kitchen scenario.

Interacting with virtual characters in an immersive kitchen scenario.

Preparing a virtual meal to train activities of daily life.

Preparing a virtual meal to train activities of daily life.

Company

Katana Simulations is working at the forefront of performance assessment and training in virtual environments. With its suite of Virtual Simulation scenarios, Katana Simulations provides realistic environments which deliver key metrics about memory, attention, problem solving, motor and speech performance of users. Founded in 2014, Katana Simulations' technology is based on the collective experience of a transdisciplinary team and over a decade of basic and applied research in engineering, cognitive psychology, virtual rehabilitation, iterative user testing and agile software development. Katana Simulations' innovative suite of virtual assessment and training scenarios received an award and recognition at the startup competition 2013/2 "Gründerwettbewerb" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Katana Simulations' work has also been featured by Digitale Agenda of the German Federal Press Office.

Partners

 Research

General Publications about Virtual Rehabilitation

Rizzo, A.A. & Koenig, S.T. (2017). Is Clinical Virtual Reality Ready for Primetime? Neuropsychology: Special Issue on Assessment and Intervention. Neuropsychology, 31(8), 877-899. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000405
Download Pre-Print PDF

Sim:Classroom

Blume, F., Göllner, R., et. al. (2019). Do students learn better when seated close to the teacher? A virtual classroom study considering individual levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Learning and Instruction, 61:138-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.10.004

Blume, F., Hudak, J., et. al. (2017). NIRS-based neurofeedback training in a virtual reality classroom for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials; 18:41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-016-1769-3

Hudak, J., Blume, F., et. al. (2017). Near-Infrared Spectroscopy-Based Frontal Lobe Neurofeedback Integrated in Virtual Reality Modulates Brain and Behavior in Highly Impulsive Adults. Front. Hum. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00425.

SIM:Office (Wonderworks)

Krch, D., Koenig, S., Lavrador, S., Rizzo, A., & Chiaravalloti, N.D. (2013). Pilot results from a virtual reality executive function task. Proceedings of the International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR 2013), Philadelphia. Download PDF

Koenig, S.T., Krch, D., Chiaravalloti, N., Lengenfelder, J., Nikelshpur, O., Lange, B.S., DeLuca, J., & Rizzo, A.A. (2012). User-centered development of a virtual reality cognitive assessment. Proc. 9th Intl Conf. Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies, Laval, France. Download PDF

Sim:Kitchen

Wall, K., Cumming, T., Koenig, S., & Copland, D. (2018). Using a non-immersive virtual reality approach to assess cognition in post-stroke aphasia: validating the Cognitive Assessment for Aphasia App (C3A). Aphasiology, 32. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2018.1485853

Wall, K.J., Cumming, T.B., Koenig, S.T., Pelecanos, A.M., & Copland, D.A. (2018). Using technology to overcome the language barrier: the Cognitive Assessment for Aphasia App. Disability and Rehabilitation, 40(11), 1333-1344. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2017.1294210

Wall, K.J. (2017). Assessing cognition post-stroke using virtual reality technology. PhD dissertation, The University of Queensland, Australia. Download Link

Team

 
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Sebastian Koenig, Dipl.-Psych., Ph.D. is Founder and CEO of Katana Simulations Pty Ltd. He received his Ph.D. in Human Interface Technology from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, developing a software framework for individualized virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation. Dr. Koenig obtained his degree as Diploma-Psychologist from the University of Regensburg, Germany, in the areas of Clinical Neuropsychology and Virtual Reality Rehabilitation. Dr. Koenig’s professional experience spans over ten years of clinical work and research in cognitive rehabilitation and ten years of virtual reality research, simulation development and user testing. Dr. Koenig has developed numerous software applications for cognitive assessment and training. For his work on the Virtual Memory Task he was awarded the prestigious Laval Virtual Award 2011, category “Medicine and Health”. In 2016, Dr. Koenig received the Early Career Investigator Award, 2nd place, of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation.

In 2014, Dr. Koenig founded Katana Simulations to further develop and market his virtual rehabilitation research. He leads Katana Simulations’ efforts to design and develop clinical simulations for the assessment and rehabilitation of human cognition and motor function. Katana Simulations has since partnered with prestigious rehabilitation providers, universities and companies in the USA, Germany and Australia, and has been highly successful in attracting grant funding for its projects.

Katana SimulationS PTY LTD

info@katanasim.com