I spellchick all my girlfriends - Adamson Rust
|
|
|
Vuzix augments reality
UZIX HAD A really cool prototype product on the floor at CES - augmented reality goggles. These are not the usual VR goggles, they show you the world with some added bonuses.
The idea is simple, and the hard part is done. Vuzix has VR goggles already, each eye capable of showing a projected 640 * 480 image, with 800 * 600 versions coming in a few months. The new glasses add a camera on top, take a picture of what is in front of your head, and project it to your eyes.
Better than life
If you are thinking that clear lenses would be cheaper, higher rez, and more effective, you are right, until you see the magic. Note that black square with the logo in it behind the glasses, it is the key. The software on the connected PC reads the image and pulls shape, angle and distance from it.
Instant house
The glasses then puts up an object where the logo should be, so the flat sheet of paper looks like it grew a house. Or a car, or plane, or anything else you want. You can add to reality however you want, and give different viewers a personalized look at things they are supposed to see. We can hear the marketing people drooling already.
The final versions are due in a few months, and will be called the Wrap 920AV. Vuzix will have stereo versions as well, and quite possibly ones with noise canceling ear buds like the straight VR glasses. Each one takes 2 AA batteries, and will run for about 6 hours off a set. MSRP will be under $500, quite cheap for what you get. µ
Share this:
Share
Yeah... because this hasn't been done before =P
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33676318@N06/3236598066/
And Darkflame, I'm afraid you're likely mistaken. Unlike the prototypes utilizing micro-prism elements embedded in the lenses, like those shown by Lumus (vaporware, anybody? or maybe people outside are just wary of doing business with the Israelis) Vuzix hasn't demonstrated to anybody that the AV920 Wrap will work anything like you're suggesting. Well, maybe something like it. In their publicity materials they put "see-through" in quotes, like so: 'see-thru'. My interpretation of what materials they've released is that there will be opaque microdisplays, as with their previous products, suspended from the top of the frames, allowing near-total peripheral vision around the displays. Their touted optics are those that focus the displays, as is necessary to create an artificially distant focal point, so as not to give the wearer migraines. The AR capabilities are added via the optional stereoscopic camera attachment, and a separate optional 6-DOF inertial tracker. It'll be interesting to see if they've stayed with the original tracker system from the VR920, incorporated an HMC6343, or added Invensense gyros and Kalman Filtering. I'm guessing that they'll stay with what they've got, improving their tilt correction algorithms and extracting linear accelerations to add the other 3-DOF. It's interesting to note that the IMU will use Bluetooth, and so they really are targeting this at devices like the iPhone and Android based phones, all of which have powerful GPUs from PowerVR, among others. That's also why they're going with S-Video, supported on many of these mobile devices for photo and video playback to television, rather than the VGA interface on the VR920.
Anyhow, combine (sorry, but this is gonna' be a nasty run-on) the inertial tracking with Total Immersion's fiducial marker tracking system, the geospatial data (including terrain and building modeling) being aggregated in databases like Google Earth, the increasingly accurate geo-locative capabilities of today's mobile devices, their mobile broadband data-delivery capabilties, and the depth-analysis capabilities of stereoscopic cameras, and the implications, not only for gaming, but for the very way we interact with the world and data that defines it, are pretty damn deep. And true see-through HUDs aren't far on the horizon. Gibson's Locative Art in Spook Country doesn't begin to cover it. And this is just the obvious stuff I can mention without giving up a competitive advantage. Have a little imagination, people. The entities to watch are Vuzix, Lumus, Microvision, Myvu, Apple (they submitted a superfluous and indefensible patent for a see-through HMD last year, which at least suggests possible intention), Nokia, Total Immersion, Mobilizy, Invensense, Analog Devices, ST (and anyone else making MEMS inertial sensors), and academia of course. AR FTW =P
"The new glasses add a camera on top, take a picture of what is in front of your head, and project it to your eyes."
This isnt even what they are going to release.
According to their website, their press-release PDF's etc, they are actualy releaseing "opticaly see-though" versions.
This means you have the virtual information overlaid straight onto the glass, without the need for the camera.
This is much better then this prototype as it means your still seeing 90% the real world directly and in realtime, and you add whatever virtual stuff you want ontop.
This is really exciteing, apperently they call the tech "quantom optics", but I'm guessing its probably just a layer of toled/lcd with correct lighting.
They will release a camera as an add-on, but its more for tracking and orintation software.
" In bed, could I pretend I have a girlfriend with me, and that she's a hotty?"
But she wont exactly be finding the glass's a turn-on mate :P
Think about what this would do for gaming. Make the location detection thing work with radio signals and then load it with a complete map of the neighborhood. Obviously, if it's illegal to go someplace, you probably wouldn't have a 3d map of it, but you could systematically map a wooded area, let's say, and then have war games there. Or, you could have an open gymnasium where the computer generates a landscape for you to explore.
Fun times ahead, I think. Anyone fancy a swordfight with me in a few years?
You could see yourself playing with a band on stage in front of the audience. Add in some "multiplayer" and you can see your band mates.
In bed, could I pretend I have a girlfriend with me, and that she's a hotty? Actually mine is a hotty, I'm, just thinking of the rest of you ;-)
Could these be used as glasses that correct for vision defects?
Could I buy these, with some GB's of space, and top them up at the airport/train station/other boring place and download some movies/tv/books?