Inspired by jumping spiders
Inspired by these spiders, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a compact and efficient depth sensor that could be used on board microrobots, in small wearable devices, or in lightweight virtual and augmented reality headsets. The device combines a multifunctional, flat metalens with an ultra-efficient algorithm to measure depth in a single shot.
Evolution, as it turns out, provides a lot of options.
Jumping spiders have evolved a more efficient system to measure depth. Each principal eye has a few semi-transparent retinae arranged in layers, and these retinae measure multiple images with different amounts of blur. For example, if a jumping spider looks at a fruit fly with one of its principal eyes, the fly will appear sharper in one retina’s image and blurrier in another. This change in blur encodes information about the distance to the fly.
“Instead of using layered retina to capture multiple simultaneous images, as jumping spiders do, the metalens splits the light and forms two differently-defocused images side-by-side on a photosensor,” said Shi, who is part of Capasso’s lab.
An ultra-efficient algorithm, developed by Zickler’s group, then interprets the two images and builds a depth map to represent object distance.
See the full story here: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/10/a-depth-sensor-inspired-by-the-way-spiders-eye-flies/
U.S. Army investigates making night-vision goggles double as virtual reality and augmented reality devices
Army wants digital image processing to improve image quality, intelligent toggling to modulate power, and ability to display only relevant information.
U.S. Army researchers are looking for companies able to write software that would enable digital night-vision goggles to enhance warfighter augmented and virtual reality capabilities on the battlefield.
This architecture should use high-frame-rate digital image feeds; 2-D and 3-D terrain data; and full-color displays to provide a more intuitive and ergonomic augmented reality interface, and a more realistic virtual reality experience.
The Army particularly is interested in an architecture that has digital image processing to improve image quality, as well as an intelligent toggling system to modulate power and dataflow to save power and display only relevant information.
Hardware in the architecture must communicate via a hard-wired connection like USB 2.0, with options for wireless operation via Bluetooth, 802.11g, Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), or Ultra Wide Band (UWB). The radio shall be either wave relay radio such as an MPU-5 or wideband waveform such as a Harris 152A/163.
Prototypes may not be fully functional if they adequately demonstrate ways to enhance performance of the user and the system.
See the full story here: https://www.militaryaerospace.com/computers/article/14069446/virtual-reality-augmented-reality-nightvision-goggles
Microsoft Research Presents Significant Advances In Virtual Reality
The first one is the DreamWalker. This allows users to recreate an environment in virtual reality and walk as if a user were present in it. But the important thing is that the program could adapt the desired place (virtual) to the streets where the player lives, since the software would choose the ones that best fit the real one in order for the user to navigate safely.
This would also be achieved with the help of sensors, which would detect the obstacles discovered in reality and that the user could not see, but would be represented in the virtual world and thus avoid them.
Another one is the Mise-Unseen project, which has great potential to provide more interactive virtual reality experiences, since its technology could alter what the user sees on the screen to such an extent that he does not realize. (Only items outside the fovea change!)
See the full story here: https://segmentnext.com/2019/10/29/microsoft-research-presents-significant-advances-in-virtual-reality/
Former Apple designer responds to Trump’s iPhone critique
https://www.cultofmac.com/661560/former-apple-designer-responds-to-president-trumps-iphone-critique/
Virtual Reality is booming, and Vancouver is leading the way
The conference and expo, which takes place Nov. 1-2 at Parq Vancouver, is supported by the biggest names in tech, such as Microsoft and Amazon, and will feature keynote addresses, panels and workshops with more than 1,000 representatives from dozens of major technology companies.
Three years ago, Vancouver was home to around 15 immersive technology companies. Now there are more than 230, from major publishers like Electronic Arts (EA), Microsoft and Nintendo, to startups like Etro Construction, which aims to implement new technologies in the construction industry and has been growing rapidly since its inception in 2015.
Even celebrities see a can’t-miss moneymaking opportunity. Virtual reality gaming company Sandbox VR, which just expanded to Canada by opening a location Richmond, announced $11 million in funding from some big names in Silicon Valley and the entertainment industry, including Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry, actors Will Smith and Orlando Bloom, and former Disney President Michael Ovitz.
Sandbox works with VR and full-body, motion-capture technology for customers to become superheroes, space cowboys, and physics-defying fighters. The company describes the experience as the closest thing to the “holodeck” that exists.