Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the it-burns-mommy dept.
squidgy writes "The BBC are reporting on a system that can superimpose images over your vision using small lasers beaming the images directly onto the retina. This is already being used in the car manufacturing industry. You too could soon have T101 vision."
The real innovation
by
andy666
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Is the use of adaptive optics for imaging the retina. This involves using deformable mirrors or micromirror arrays to sense how the retina deforms a wavefront.
Re:The real innovation
by
Glonoinha
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
You guys miss the whole groundbreaking aspect of this? The HUD! This is what we have been waiting for - heads up display and it is finally (almost) affordable.
For those of you familiar with the feedback in the Star Wars Galaxies HUD, envision coupling this thing with a tiny GPS module - now you could superimpose a top down map of the surrounding area (zoom in / out), heading, speed, waypoints. Couple this with the RFID encoding every person is going to have in the next few years and it could actually accept data from the MCP and put every person's name over their head, plus make available a quick lookup of statistical information (age, date of birth, relatives, occupation, phone number, etc..) Be able to interact with Google, MapQuest, etc in real time everywhere you go.
Apparently SF is not read anymore. Only "SciFi" like Andromeda and Star Trek stays in the collective memory, it seems. And those are derivative of much older and far more literate work.
Heinlein, Asimov, DeCamp, Pohl, Anderson, Campbell. Kuttner, Clarke, Stephenson, Gibson... all that history, all that work in vain? No one reads anymore?
This is OUR history! I grew up reading stories from the 30's, 40's and 50's. The source material for the people who grew up and built the present world. Snow Crash pretty much predicted the present so well that it doesn't even read like fiction.
I guess I'm spooked because I can't find people of a certain younger age who read SF anymore. A culture is built on stories, and geek culture is losing its own.
> Anyone else immediately think of the old "set refresh rate to zero" hack that used to be able to burn out monitors?
Yeah. Someone else has done all the hard work. All I wanted was for you to set the refresh rate to zero, turn the thing around 180 degrees, and mount the frickin' thing on a shark. Is that too much to ask?
The only important question
by
triptolemeus
·
· Score: 3, Funny
One will I get X-ray vision?
-- The site where: "I'm right, as long as you ignore the things that prove me wrong", became a valid method of debate.
Re:The only important question
by
Analogy+Man
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
In effect for instances were you are looking at something of known shape you get just that!
Suppose you are trying to put a small screw in a small threaded hole..but there are other parts as well as your arm and hand in the way. With this system you could see the hole virtually.
The trick would be having the system generate the geometry for the screw...or your fingers.
-- When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
I MUST HAVE ONE! NOW!
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
But, more prosaically, I wonder what the effective pixel resolution of the display is? colour depth, too.
Cool - now I can have a "You've got mail" banner scroll across my field of view and cool rotatey vector envelope icon will appear at bottom right of everything I look at...
Re:"You've got mail!"
by
Lumpy
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Nahh more fun is to run 30 copies of Xeyes and start running around screaming "STOP STARING AT ME!"
Not like I spend enough time staring at code, just what I need is to have a constant stream of 6502 assembler every waking moment.
This isn't new...
by
boomer_rehfield
·
· Score: 3, Informative
There was a company from Seattle IIRC that was working with this around 5 to 7 years ago. It's an extremely cool technology though and I was bummed that I never heard anything else beyond that. Glad to hear it's still around.
-- "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
This is a Big Thing
by
pkaral
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I think it is hard to overestimate the long term impact of this technology, if it lives up to its promises. This could be the final piece in the puzzle needed to make wearable computing a mainstream reality (rather than a thing for visionary geeks). My guess is that within 10 years of the first real massmarket product, we will all be wearing those when working, driving, shopping, etc.
Putting all the "cook your eyes with high-powered laser" jokes aside, this has several useful applications.
I'd like a subtitle application. A smart application analyses voices and sends subtitles only I can see.
"He's lying".
"She's eager but expecting disappointment"
"They want to buy, at any price".
"He's still lying".
Subtitling conversations is a great thing. But we can go further. GPS is an obvious plug-in. "Go left, now!" "Almost there" "Cops ahead, slow down and hide the bottles".
Next, how about linking this to streaming news sources. I'd never miss another Fark story. Granted, ticker-tape messages scrolling under your line of sight might get boring. But that's what bash.org is for.
I also want the reality-skinning software. This has been briefly touched on in a previous comment. We can go further. Everyone we meet can get their own photoshopped skin. The boss? He gets a moustache and bright red hair. That girl in finance who refuses all your expenses? A sign on her back saying 'Kick Me'.
Finally, I'd like a system of virtual real-world messaging. This works as follows: comments are linked to real spatial cordinates. As you look at the appropriate building or space, you get to read the comments. To keep comments semi-private, you'd have join a server and channel, like irc.
So I think laser-augmented vision has the potential to radically change society.
Of course we have to get around the fried-eye issues first.
--
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Re:Some uses for this...
by
infolib
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I'd like a subtitle application. A smart application analyses voices and sends subtitles only I can see.
Now what I'd like to see in the display is:
Name: Bob Greenham (92% certainty) Last met: Acme Conference june '06 Current position: Cyan Inc. (99% certainty) "Bob Greenham" found in one mail thread: Spokes for Acme Wheels (July '06, 3 mails)
-- Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
Re:Some uses for this...
by
ozbird
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I'd like a subtitle application. A smart application analyses voices and sends subtitles only I can see.
"He's lying."
LIAR.
HE'S A LIAR.
HE'LL RAPE YOU.
HE'LL KILL.
YOU KILL HIM FIRST.
"Equivalent to 17-inch SVGA display at arm's length Nomad provides the same full-screen resolution as an SVGA desktop monitor. Most handheld devices display only quarterscreen resolution. Scrolling is virtually unnecessary."
So presumably around 1024x768 pixels...
And the colour depth:
"Monochrome red display Nomad's bright-red display provides high contrast
between the display information and virtually any
background view.
32 grey levels Nomad can display text, graphics, halftones or
video in any combination with excellent
readability."
The thing the surprised me was the price, only $3995, which seems pretty cheap, to be turned into a terminator....
I'm reminded of the bit where Arnie scans the dresscode in the bar, and the HUD flashes up 'Inappropriate' at one point...
Slightly OT: Re:Apaches Already Have This
by
ValentineMSmith
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I'm sorry, but that is incorrect. Unless they've changed the way the targeting devices work for the AH-64D. The AH-64A uses a small HUD that is clipped to the right side of the pilot's helmet. The image is projected on a piece of semi-transparent, angled glass, just like a regular HUD in any other military aircraft.
The innovative thing about the Apache was not the monocle. It was the way the monocle was boresighted and the way the helmet was tracked in 3D space inside the cockpit. The net effect was that, when the copilot/gunner looks at something, the aircraft can tell where he's looking. The TADS (or Target Acquisition and Designation System) follows his head motion. And, if the 30mm chain gun is the active weapon, it follows his head motion as well. All the CPG has to do is either lase to get a range or lase to designate the target and pull the trigger.
For the pilot, the helmet was boresighted so that the PNVS (or Pilot's Night Vision System) would automatically follow his head motions. The PNVS is an infrared system (not light multiplying) based in a small turret at the front of the aircraft. The pilots said that the perspective change took a bit of getting used to, but it worked very effectively.
I was an Apache crewchief for four years.
-- Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
Re:Heads up display
by
David+McBride
·
· Score: 3, Informative
This is a significant breakthrough because:
-- Previous HMD's were very heavy (and unbalancing), and not suitable for long-term use; this is not the case with this implementation.
-- The displays used were relatively low quality, requiring small LCD screens with refresh, brightness, colour depth, and resolution issues; with this new design the only limiting factors are how fast you can modulate the laser intensity and how quickly you can scan the retina. (Colour depth is harder as it requires three seperate lasers of the appropriate wavelengths firing at the same mirror, but is within the bounds of possibility.)
-- Previous HMDs were not portable; they required physical lines back to a power supply and main processing units. Power consumption in this design is substantially reduced, meaning batteries and portables/wireless links can be used to make this design untethered.
Although the improvements may seem relatively minor, collectively they allow the use of HMDs in all kinds of applications that were previously completely untenable.
What are the long-term effects of passing coherent light through the aq. and virt. humors of the eye? Our eyes were evolved for the spread spectrum of sunlight.
-- [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
Actually, it is my understanding that the controller software in the eye takes several micro offset images and then produces an interpolated image of much higher resolution, which is then compressed into a datastream and sent to the driver (optic nerve). So the theoretical resolution is actually a function of the resolution of the eye * (speed of the eye in actual frames per second/the number of frames transmitted per second) with allowance made for the compression stage.
The actual resolution transmitted to the brain may be much much higher than the mere 100 megapixel single image resolution.
Disclaimer: IANAOBYRMV (I Am Not An Optical Biologist, Your Resolution May Vary)
--
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
Slashdot Mirror
Is the use of adaptive optics for imaging the retina. This involves using deformable mirrors or micromirror arrays to sense how the retina deforms a wavefront.
Anyone else immediately think of the old "set refresh rate to zero" hack that used to be able to burn out monitors?
One will I get X-ray vision?
The site where: "I'm right, as long as you ignore the things that prove me wrong", became a valid method of debate.
But, more prosaically, I wonder what the effective pixel resolution of the display is? colour depth, too.
--
Callas
Sounds kinda like beer googles, only pricier.
Can I bum a sig?
Now all we need are friggin HUMANS with friggin lasers attached fo their foreheads
Cool - now I can have a "You've got mail" banner scroll across my field of view and cool rotatey vector envelope icon will appear at bottom right of everything I look at...
I have a hard enough time descerning reality as it is.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye!
Design for Use, not Construction!
You too could soon have T101 vision."
Not like I spend enough time staring at code, just what I need is to have a constant stream of 6502 assembler every waking moment.
There was a company from Seattle IIRC that was working with this around 5 to 7 years ago. It's an extremely cool technology though and I was bummed that I never heard anything else beyond that. Glad to hear it's still around.
Carpe Canem - Seize the Dog
Would be cool for notebooks.... have no need for a screen. Would make them even smaller and probaly consume less power too.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
...but it'll be way better when I can get laser beams to come out of my eyes.
This looks exactly like Steve Mann's EyeTap device. Which, incidentally, runs Linux.
Miliary -> Industry -> Consumer
You are here --^
^-- We are awaiting this one
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Yeah... laser light in the eye, chronic masturbation... it's easy to get those two mixed up.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Wouldn't be lovelly to face a BSOD while driving at 120Km/h, in a rainy night?
[]'s Carlos Cardoso - Becoming a brazilian ProBlogger, typo by typo
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Google's IPO will be a winner.
Blockwars: free, multiplayer, head to head game
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
I think it is hard to overestimate the long term impact of this technology, if it lives up to its promises. This could be the final piece in the puzzle needed to make wearable computing a mainstream reality (rather than a thing for visionary geeks). My guess is that within 10 years of the first real massmarket product, we will all be wearing those when working, driving, shopping, etc.
Putting all the "cook your eyes with high-powered laser" jokes aside, this has several useful applications.
I'd like a subtitle application. A smart application analyses voices and sends subtitles only I can see.
"He's lying".
"She's eager but expecting disappointment"
"They want to buy, at any price".
"He's still lying".
Subtitling conversations is a great thing. But we can go further. GPS is an obvious plug-in. "Go left, now!" "Almost there" "Cops ahead, slow down and hide the bottles".
Next, how about linking this to streaming news sources. I'd never miss another Fark story. Granted, ticker-tape messages scrolling under your line of sight might get boring. But that's what bash.org is for.
I also want the reality-skinning software. This has been briefly touched on in a previous comment. We can go further. Everyone we meet can get their own photoshopped skin. The boss? He gets a moustache and bright red hair. That girl in finance who refuses all your expenses? A sign on her back saying 'Kick Me'.
Finally, I'd like a system of virtual real-world messaging. This works as follows: comments are linked to real spatial cordinates. As you look at the appropriate building or space, you get to read the comments. To keep comments semi-private, you'd have join a server and channel, like irc.
So I think laser-augmented vision has the potential to radically change society.
Of course we have to get around the fried-eye issues first.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
And the colour depth:
The thing the surprised me was the price, only $3995, which seems pretty cheap, to be turned into a terminator....
I'm reminded of the bit where Arnie scans the dresscode in the bar, and the HUD flashes up 'Inappropriate' at one point...
The innovative thing about the Apache was not the monocle. It was the way the monocle was boresighted and the way the helmet was tracked in 3D space inside the cockpit. The net effect was that, when the copilot/gunner looks at something, the aircraft can tell where he's looking. The TADS (or Target Acquisition and Designation System) follows his head motion. And, if the 30mm chain gun is the active weapon, it follows his head motion as well. All the CPG has to do is either lase to get a range or lase to designate the target and pull the trigger.
For the pilot, the helmet was boresighted so that the PNVS (or Pilot's Night Vision System) would automatically follow his head motions. The PNVS is an infrared system (not light multiplying) based in a small turret at the front of the aircraft. The pilots said that the perspective change took a bit of getting used to, but it worked very effectively.
I was an Apache crewchief for four years.
Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
This is a significant breakthrough because:
-- Previous HMD's were very heavy (and unbalancing), and not suitable for long-term use; this is not the case with this implementation.
-- The displays used were relatively low quality, requiring small LCD screens with refresh, brightness, colour depth, and resolution issues; with this new design the only limiting factors are how fast you can modulate the laser intensity and how quickly you can scan the retina. (Colour depth is harder as it requires three seperate lasers of the appropriate wavelengths firing at the same mirror, but is within the bounds of possibility.)
-- Previous HMDs were not portable; they required physical lines back to a power supply and main processing units. Power consumption in this design is substantially reduced, meaning batteries and portables/wireless links can be used to make this design untethered.
Although the improvements may seem relatively minor, collectively they allow the use of HMDs in all kinds of applications that were previously completely untenable.
That is why this is a big deal.
What are the long-term effects of passing coherent light through the aq. and virt. humors of the eye? Our eyes were evolved for the spread spectrum of sunlight.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
Actually, it is my understanding that the controller software in the eye takes several micro offset images and then produces an interpolated image of much higher resolution, which is then compressed into a datastream and sent to the driver (optic nerve). So the theoretical resolution is actually a function of the resolution of the eye * (speed of the eye in actual frames per second/the number of frames transmitted per second) with allowance made for the compression stage.
The actual resolution transmitted to the brain may be much much higher than the mere 100 megapixel single image resolution.
Disclaimer: IANAOBYRMV (I Am Not An Optical Biologist, Your Resolution May Vary)
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.