Orbis Unum News & Events

Press release: -- Irvine, CA October 31st, 2023

Orbis Unum LLC is proud to announce their participation in this year's Orange County Veteran Health and Wellness Summit; which was head at the University of California Irvine.

In keeping with the theme of the summit: “Treating Underserved Veterans and their Families” Orbis Unum sponsored a demonstration of the interactive virtual dog park, Happy Hill Dog Park, that may be helpful in relieving veterans PTSD stress.

Each participant had a chance to explore the dog park, in virtual reality (VR), pet the dogs, experience the haptic touch feedback and interactive behavior of the dogs, and even play fetch in a completely immersive virtual environment.

The virtual dog park is a relaxing woodland environment, surrounded by a gently flowing stream, which features four virtual, artificial intelligence (AI) dogs that simulate friendly interactive behavior. It also features a conversational fire pit, where participants can sit and freely interact with other users.

As part of the demonstration, Dr. Leigh Messinides VA Long Beach Staff Psychologist, Assistant Professor Jeremy Ramirez DrPH Department of Health Care Administration CSULB, Emma Rosas, CSLB Research Associate, Maya Espinal, CSLB Research Associate, and Army Veteran Matthew Olaranont Research Associate, carefully prepped each participant to enter the virtual world.

They were; assisted off-site by Dog Park development director Kim Segel, Director St.Claire Media Center, who guided them through the VR experience remotely.

The virtual dog park project is led by Brenda Freshman, PhD Professor in the Department of Health Care Administration at California State University – Long Beach..

Participants enjoyed the VR program and reported that interacting with the dogs brought fun and happiness, as well as being more immersive than they had anticipated.

Celebrating 1 Million!

Exciting news!

We here at Orbis Unum L.L.C. are very excited to announce that we will soon be celebrating our 1 millionth visitor To the Happy Hill Dog Park!

According to our sweet Australian Blue Heeler doggie, Cookie (who holds several advanced mathematical degrees and is working on a solution to Goldbach's Conjecture) we should reach our 1 millionth visitor early on Friday, November 3rd.

To celebrate, Team Dog Park will be meeting up in a public instance of the the Happy Hill Dog Park that evening, 8 PM PST.

We will post a link here when we go live, and we hope you can join us!

Press release
Orbis Unum L.L.C.
October 22, 2023

Orbis Unum will be presenting a live, virtual reality demonstration of the Happy Hill Dog Park at the Orange County Veteran Health and Wellness Summit on October 31st, 2023.

“Aligned with our goal of leveraging technology to help with the care, and reduction of stress from PTSD in our veterans we will be demonstrating a virtual reality solution that simulates a traditional dog therapy experience.

The Happy Hill Dog Park offers lifelike canine interaction including haptics, and subtle nuances of behavior that help create an emotional bond with the user.

The full impact of the experience can only be appreciated in the immersive virtual reality environment; which is why we will be presenting it live at the summit.”

Tthe summit is being presented in cooperation with the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, Orange County Health Care Agency, University of California, Irvine, Strong Families, Strong Children, and the Orange County Veterans and Military Families Collaborative (OCVMFC) in UCI's Pacific Ball Room.

“The Veteran Health and Wellness Summit provides an opportunity to engage in active dialogue with colleagues on how best to address the needs of our Veterans and Military families while seeking collaboration and innovative responses to address and support those needs. We intend to accomplish this goal by discussing ways we continued to work together to help our Veterans and their families this past year, what worked, what didn’t work and how we continue to build and strengthen community and collaboration as providers as well as within the veteran community itself. Our goal is to promote a collaborative community of care whose goal is to provide continuity of care for our Veterans and their families both in and out of the VA Healthcare System.”