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Laser Powered Virtual Display
Tedger writes "The Feature has an article discussing an interesting portable display system developed by the University of Washington. Unlike your traditional mini displays mounted in glasses this system has no display, it is a 'virtual' display created by lasers and microscopic fast moving mirrors. The image is in fact printed onto the retina and has feasibly a infinite resolution. Can anyone say true VR?"
I recall researching such "direct imaging" devices back in 1995; they were going to be the next great thing in VR, back when virtual reality was still a meme. What is neat is the idea of wide integration, though safety issues even with low power lasers would, I imagine, remain a problem.
As an analogy, consider headphone use vs. speakers. In the headphone case, you can easily damage your ears without even noticing you're doing it by having it a tinsy bit loud, while the speaker output makes it much harder (I imagine due to all that feedback to the rest of your body!) Similarly here, you are probably imaging on a limited part of your retina, which may make your eyes dilate open too much, and develop small damage over time, etc.
That's why it has a built in screensaver. Just imagine, you're driving, and the virtual monitor is displaying a Heads Up Display, and the screensaver kicks in. Suddenly you're flying through space at warp-speed.
"the universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle" - Stapp's Law
Didn't we see this already?
"Just because you can't see the laser doesn't mean it isn't dangerous."
Just because it's a laser doesn't mean it's dangerous.
A.
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