Augmented Reality goes deep underwater
In what might be the first Augmented Reality under water, the US Navy has announced a next generation diving helmet that includes as brand new feature an Augmented Vision Display, AVD.
The display provides high definition visual capabilities that overlaps on the ambient vision. It can display text messages, graphics (including sonar images) transparent images and video. Its functionality can be activated by the diver who also has the possibility to position the images/text in the desired part of the visor to keep an unobstructed view of its surrounding.
The helmet is also incorporating a micro sonar and an advanced camera whose feeds can be displayed by the AVD. This should provide a good vision even in muddy waters.
See the full story here: https://www.eitdigital.eu/blog/article/augmented-reality-goes-deep-underwater/
VisLab: Home to robots, virtual reality, 3-D printing
Located on the third floor of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Research Center, the Visual World Investigate Lab (aka VisLab) is highly experimental and not easily defined. It is a Makerspace, it is a public outreach tool, it is a classroom for children and teachers, it is free, it is visited by about 2,000 people a month and it is open every day.
Lab coordinators teach science using scientific visualization techniques – such as virtual reality, augmented reality and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) – and encourage kids to learn how to code and build with impromptu electronics demonstrations and formal classes. The lab boasts many different types of software and hardware technologies such as augmented reality, GIS, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, robotics, 3-D modeling and 3-D printing. The lab’s formal goal is to teach science and how science is done. The lab’s informal goal is to encourage as many children as possible to become the next great scientists and inventors by demystifying the world of science, programming and electronics.
The democratisation of virtual reality
Companies such as Swedish pioneers Brighter are using a VR dome and bicycle to take elderly patients on gentle virtual rides through their childhood neighbourhoods. This is to help sufferers with dementia and other cognitive-related illnesses a safe environment to get ‘out’ and about, an idea so inspired that it has caught the attention of Sweden’s Queen Silvia.
The importance of VR is illustrated by how it is starkly differentiated from other forms of media: the individual no longer sees something, they experience it. Academics such as Dr Matthew Nicholls, a colleague of Dr Glennerster at the University of Reading, has developed a virtual map of ancient Rome, drawing on sources as wide as surviving ruins, mosaics, paintings, written accounts, and even images on coins. It allows Dr Nicholls to not just speak of ancient Rome, but to take his students on virtual tours of the streets of the Empire as it was in its heyday. Largely a personal labour of love, the project has been so successful that TV companies and even game developers have taken an interest in his work and adopted it for their own endeavours.
Read the full story here: http://www.itproportal.com/2016/07/03/the-democratisation-of-virtual-reality-vr/#ixzz4DNa1o41A
UK’s first virtual reality centre opens in Lincoln
You can now step into a another world in Lincoln city centre thanks to a ground-breaking new virtual reality facility - the first of its kind in the country.
The £200,000 Tension VR centre offers punters the opportunity to experience an "immersive, and incredibly believable" encounter in a different time or place.
Using HTC Vive technology, people are able to try an alternative reality with 30 different interactive games, 150 videos and plenty more.
See the full story here: http://www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/sneak-peek-uk-s-first-virtual-reality-centre-opens-in-lincoln/story-29470620-detail/story.html
Full Sail wades into virtual reality coursework with new lab
"No one has spent money on the constant development side," said Armstrong, president and CEO of Engineering & Computer Simulations in Orlando. "Everyone is spending on hardware. That is what is going to change it: finding people to build the applications."
It's part of a $3 million space that combines two labs, one equipped with manufacturing tools as a sort of makerspace and another for the AR/VR program.
"There are going to be jobs out there that haven't even been created yet," said Rob Catto, Full Sail's director of game studies and simulation.
Cogswell College, which sits in California's Silicon Valley, introduced what Forbes called the first AR/VR studies certificate program in the U.S. this summer.
Professor Timothy Duncan said when the class was announced that virtual and augmented reality, though most common in gaming, would eventually "impact many industries across the globe."
"By having students learn these new areas now, they will position themselves as the next generation of technical and creative leaders within exciting new VR and AR frontiers," Duncan said in a news release.
"Educational institutions producing multi-disciplinary talent will play a major role in developing talent that will mature the technology and push it to greater heights," Civinskas said. "Lockheed Martin continues to partner with science, technology, engineering and math programs to help inspire future talent to address the next generation of challenges."
See the full story here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-virtual-augmented-reality-business-education-20160701-story.html
German Engineers Developing AR Helmet for Pilots
All of the data is processed on-board and projected directly to the head-mounted display, allowing the pilot to not only see with his own eyes, but also retrieve the digital outlines of the landscape and potential obstacles. Pilots also have access to flight data, like speed, altitude, position and course, directly on their display. The team also implemented a head-tracking system to make sure that the projections adjust to the pilot's line of sight, depending on whether he is looking forward, downward or out the side of the cockpit.
"The main problem is poor visibility caused by clouds or snow, or dust blown up when taking off and landing. Augmented reality can help to overcome this white-out or brown-out phenomenon,” he said.
See the full story here: http://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/6953/german-engineers-developing-ar-helmet-for-pilots
UW CoMotion opening new HQ with space for virtual, augmented reality startups
One floor of the new headquarters will include space for CoMotion’s day-to-day operations. The other floor will have a pair of virtual reality lab areas, 34 co-working desks and an event/teaching space with room for 150 to 200 people. CoMotion charges $350 a month for a desk and access to its programs.‘Pokémon Go’ is Where I Draw the Line on “Augmented Reality”
[Philip Lelyveld comment: Pokeman Go sounds like it is less than expected. Just proximity and floating objects - suitable for the Google Glass!]
The thing is, in order to ‘augment’ reality, the system doing the augmentation needs to know something about your reality; like how Snapchat knows the shape of your face so that it can augment it in interesting ways. But Pokémon Go knows nothing more about your reality than almost any other app on your phone.
Because of this, you’ll frequently find Pokémon floating superimposed into walls or other objects in a way that doesn’t make sense, with their scale totally misrepresented against a backdrop that doesn’t suit their size at all. When you walk toward the Pokémon they’ll simply slide along the ground at a fixed distance from you, passing through whatever real world obstacles might be in their way. This isn’t augmenting reality, it’s merely conflicting with it.
Aside from the superimposed camera view, which you can (and likely will) opt to turn off with a small button at the top right of the app, the only other argument to be made for Pokémon Go as an AR app is that in order to find Pokémon and other game objectives (like gyms), you have to physically move around the world (a quick stroll up the street might reveal a few).
But unlike the CGI video, you won’t find any Pokémon hiding behind trees or battling atop bridges. You’ll simply be looking at the map on your smartphone (which takes the form of a stylized version of the sorts of roadmaps you’d find on Google Maps) and occasionally see a Pokémon pop up on the screen. Then, whether you’re 10 feet for 50 feet from them, just tap on your smartphone and you’ll be engaged into the superimposed camera view to capture the creature.
Pokémon Go could be an amazing AR app, if only they delivered anything remotely like what was shown in their audacious CGI video. Until then, let’s not muddle the definition of augmented reality...
See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/pokemon-go-is-where-i-draw-the-line-on-augmented-reality/?utm_source=Road+to+VR+Daily+News+Roundup&utm_campaign=339c858fa3-RtoVR_RSS_Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e2e394ad33-339c858fa3-168170213