In the operating theatre
You can't pause, rewind or repeat a real operation.
Surgeons learn by doing, but operating time is scarce and every patient matters. That leaves few safe chances to rehearse a complex procedure before doing it for real.
Healthcare technology company
Making healthcareeasier and moreaffordable.
We build virtual reality and AI tools that let surgical teams rehearse operations safely, and help clinicians and educators understand how a child pays attention, learns and responds.
Flagship product 01
Incisio
Surgical training in virtual reality. Trainees rehearse operations in a virtual operating theatre, as often as they need.
How Incisio works →Flagship product 02
HalaraXR
Behavioural assessment in virtual reality. Short, game-like activities show how a child pays attention, remembers and learns.
How HalaraXR works →Built with and backed by
- UCL Innovation & Enterprise
- University College London Hospitals
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme
01The problem
Surgeons need safe practice. Children need answers sooner.
For children and families
Children are waiting months, even years, for an autism or ADHD assessment.
Across the UK, demand for assessments has far outgrown the number of specialists. While a child waits, families get little support and schools lack objective information about what the child needs. And the assessment itself rests on questionnaires and short clinic appointments, which capture only a snapshot of a child's behaviour.
Different rooms, same difficulty: the moments that matter most are hard to repeat and hard to measure.
02Our answer
AI coaches the trainee during a procedure, and turns what happened in each session into feedback and reports that people can act on.
Easier
No theatre to book and no patient at risk. A trainee puts on a headset and practises. A child plays a few short, familiar activities.
More affordable
A VR headset costs far less than a physical simulation suite, and a session can be repeated as often as needed, so the same budget reaches more people.
Why virtual reality
What a headset can do that a textbook can't.
Reading about a procedure is not the same as doing it. In a headset, people can do it, safely, as many times as it takes.
Realistic practice
Step into lifelike scenarios, from routine clinical procedures to critical situations.
Growing confidence
Repeat a skill until it feels instinctive.
No pressure
Progress at your own pace in a calm, risk-free setting.
Anywhere, anytime
Train without limits of place or schedule.
03Flagship product one
Incisio is surgical training in virtual reality. Trainees step into a virtual operating theatre and rehearse complex procedures as many times as they need, before a patient is involved.
- What it trains
- Complex procedures, such as keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery and liver resection
- Where
- Virtual operating theatres built to match medical protocols
- Who it is for
- Medical students, nurses, surgeons and educators
How a session works
From headset on to feedback, in four steps.
Concept visual
Concept visual- Set-up
- Access
- Exposure
- Key checks
- Closure
Procedure flow92
Decision-making86
Instrument handling78
Progress across attempts
FeedbackConfirm the key safety check before moving on. You paused here on two of three attempts.
Put on the headset and step into the operating theatre
The trainee is standing in a full operating theatre: table, team and instruments, all laid out to match medical protocols.
Rehearse the whole procedure
They work through the operation step by step, from routine cases to critical situations, making the decisions a real procedure demands.
Concept visualGet guidance from an AI assistant
An avatar inside the headset talks with the trainee, offering prompts, cues and guidance that reinforce every step.
Concept visualReview the session, then go again
Every action and decision is tracked. The feedback shows the trainee what to improve, and lets practitioners follow their own progress over time.
- Set-up
- Access
- Exposure
- Key checks
- Closure
Procedure flow92
Decision-making86
Instrument handling78
Progress across attempts
FeedbackConfirm the key safety check before moving on. You paused here on two of three attempts.
In practiceThe Virtual Operating Theatre was developed and piloted with University College London Hospitals.
04Flagship product two
HalaraXR helps clinicians and educators understand how a child pays attention, remembers, learns and reads social cues. The child plays four short activities in a VR headset, and machine-learning analysis highlights behaviour patterns associated with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD.
- What it observes
- Attention, memory, learning and how social cues are read
- How
- Short VR activities, a web dashboard and machine-learning analysis
- Who it is for
- Clinicians, educators and special educational needs (SEN) teams
Try it yourself
Pop the golden bubbles. Leave the clear ones.
What the child does
Four short VR activities, built around familiar everyday situations.
Every child completes the same activities, so behaviour is captured the same way each time.
Attention
The child spots target bubbles in a park. This shows how well they hold their attention and how consistently they respond.
Memory
The child packs the right items for an everyday situation. This shows working memory and recall.
Learning
The child makes choices and solves simple problems. This shows how they approach learning.
Social cues
The child meets a character and responds. This shows how they read spoken and unspoken cues.
Short Familiar Interactive
What the professional gets
A clear report of what was observed.
- 1A professional sets up the session on a web dashboard
- 2The child plays the activities in a VR headset
- 3Behavioural signals are captured as they play
- 4Machine learning analyses the signals
- 5A structured report is produced
What is captured
- Task performance and reaction times
- Gaze and head movement
- How the child interacts
HalaraXR supports the professionals around a child. It is designed to inform their decisions, not to replace clinical judgement. Its development is funded by the NIHR.
Log in to the HalaraXR dashboardHalaraXRSession report
Sample dataAccuracy
Tasks answered correctly84%
Reaction time
Average time to respond1.2 s
Gaze
Time spent looking at the task72%
Movement
Head movement during the tasks1.2 m
Responses across the session Correct Mistakes
05What we build
Two products today. The same capabilities can go further.
Incisio and HalaraXR are designed and built by one team, from the same six building blocks. More projects are in research and development.
Immersive simulation
Realistic 3D environments built in the Unity engine, from operating theatres matched to medical protocols to everyday scenes a child recognises.
- Incisio
- HalaraXR
Conversational AI guidance
An avatar inside the headset that talks a trainee through a procedure with prompts, cues and guidance.
- Incisio
Behaviour and performance tracking
Actions, decisions, reaction times, gaze and head movement, captured while the session runs.
- Incisio
- HalaraXR
Machine-learning analysis
Models that turn the raw signals from a session into patterns a professional can read and act on.
- HalaraXR
Dashboards and reports
A web dashboard to set up and monitor sessions as they run, with a structured report generated at the end.
- HalaraXR
Clinical co-design
Built with clinical and educational advisors and piloted with hospital teams, so the simulations match real practice.
- Incisio
- HalaraXR
The team behind it
- VR developers
- 3D modellers
- Software and machine-learning engineering
- Educational advisor
- Clinical advisors
Have a training or assessment problem that immersive technology could solve? Talk to us
06Track record
Born at UCL. Backed by the NIHR. Built with clinicians.
Cogniverse began at UCL's Global Business School for Health. HalaraXR is funded by the NIHR, the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research, and our Virtual Operating Theatre was piloted with University College London Hospitals.
- Origin
Born out of UCL's Global Business School for Health
- Award
Winner of UCL's Dragons' Den for healthcare innovation
- Pilot
Virtual Operating Theatre developed and piloted with UCLH
- Funding
HalaraXR funded by the NIHR
- Programme
Part of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme
Built with and backed by leaders in healthcare
UCLUniversity College London, Innovation & Enterprise
UCLHUniversity College London Hospitals
NIHRNational Institute for Health and Care Research
NHS CEPNHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme
07Where we are going
High-quality training and assessment, within everyone's reach.
Our vision
Raising training standards
To create immersive, accurate and effective learning experiences for practitioners.
Expanding access and impact
To make high-quality simulations available across regions and communities.
Driving innovation
To continuously explore new ways AI and VR can enhance medical training.
Our mission
Harnessing VR
To use the power of virtual reality to give medical teams a practical and safe way to train.
Making learning accessible
To design training that can be used anytime, anywhere, by professionals worldwide.
Advancing with AI
To integrate AI into our tools to improve patient care and safely personalise learning.
Our values
- 01
Clinical accuracy
Evidence-based simulations, built to strengthen real-world medical skills.
- 02
Personalised growth
AI that adapts to match every learner's specific needs.
- 03
Global reach
High-fidelity medical training for professionals everywhere.
- 04
Consistent innovation
Evolving AR and VR tools to keep learning effective and relevant.
- 05
Collaborative training
Group scenarios that build teamwork and coordinated decision-making.