Laser HUD Projected on Retina

Ligur writes: "The scoop is at the Seattle P-I: 'This fall, Bothell-based Microvision Inc. plans to give people the same cybernetic experience that once existed only in a screenwriter's imagination. Through a device called Nomad, people will be able to read information from a small, wearable computer that projects an image over their normal vision.'" Looks like they've come a long way in the past three years.

Still a ways to go...

[chrism2k]

An interesting technology. Long-term it looks like it has a lot of potential. But for the time being, it looks like MicroOptical (http://www.microopticalcorp.com/) is a better choice for wearables. They're less obtrusive and they can already do color. And, while they're still not cheap, they are cheaper.

I definitely want to see power-consumption and resolution specs for Nomad, though!

Anybody else bothered by the fact that the article kept describing this as a holographic display?

-chrism

Re:Still a ways to go...

[Bullschmidt]

The significance of this is not the size, price or color/mono. Its HOW it is done. This particular one shoots the image straight to the retina, versus hanging an LCD in front of the eye, which seems to be how microoptical is doing it (their website seemed a touch sparse on technical info). I believe microvision does sell the lcd style display at a much cheaper price, in color and to very high resolutions (800x600?).

All this is more or less from memory, so I could be wrong!

Possible future of HUD technology...

[JTFritz]

Until technology like this gets to be the size and profile of a standard pair of sunglasses I don't think that it is very practical. Having used a head-mounted display before, I know that the display is heavier than a pair of glasses and it seems awkward to move your head and even interact with other people.

But, once the device becomes small enough that it does not interfere with daily life, I could see tremendous potential for a device like this.

I would love to be able to go to a sporting event and be able to look at players and be instantly provided stats, in an overlay fashion similar to what we see on television today.

Very good job so far... Just needs a little bit more work to be practical.

Re:Retinal damage

[Moofie]

Yeah. There exists a power density that is safe to the human eye. That power density is NOT ZERO.

Focusing a 1W light on 1 rod or cone would fry it. Focusing 1 microwatt on a 1mmx1mm area will not fry your retina.

And a window based GUI would be just stupid in this context. You'd be able to do an amazing amount of stuff with just raw text.

These questions have probably been answered

[theonomist]

...by now -- since the article they linked is dated Monday, June 18, 2001. Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! June of last year!

See here [slashdot.org]. It's already been on Slashdot, even.

Yeah, the hot news is always on Slashdot, kids.

Some other displays..

[Erastus]

This isn't all that great. Consider some of the other augmented reality displays that are currently available and don't require mounting on more than a pair of glasses.

You might check out the displays currently offered through MicroOptical [microopticalcorp.com] for less than $5k

Then, check out some really neat covert display hacks by Don Papp [aeinnovations.com]

Re:Transparent? Not really

[Dyolf Knip]

Sure, but you lose your depth perception. Not sure that'd be a Good Thing for people driving or using heavy machinery. The whole point of augmented vision is that you don't lose anything, you just add to what you would ordinarily see.

Re:whoa! just hope that laser isn't hacked

[merlin_jim]

Actually, this isn't such a big problem as you would think. First off, the laser itself is very low power... secondly, the Center for Disease and Radiological Health has guidelines for any lasers that will be accesible to the public when in use, and this includes direct eye-scanning techniques. Just a quick review:

• Total power must be no greater than 40 uW (micro-Watts... that's .04 mW, compared to 1-5 mW laser pointers)
• The beam must be continuous and not pulsed
• The full exposure allowed is some awfully low value, something like .1 mW / cm2
• If any of the scanning equipment fails (the tiny mirrors that move the laser beam back and forth across your retina), there must be a safety interlock that shuts the beam off
• The safety interlock must be independant of the control software so a bug in the software doesn't result in a problem
• The safety interlock must operate within 75% of the mirror settle-time. Once the mirrors stop moving, they take a discrete amount of time to settle on one point. The safety interlock must completely dampen the beam before 75% of this time goes by; if the mirrors settle in 4 picoseconds, the interlock engages in 3

So, all in all, if they have a CDRH variance (and you have to have one to sell laser equipment), they're pretty safe. These values are all very conservative; the same regulations specify that laser pointers are not allowed to be used for commercial applications within 5 miles of an airport, because of the chance of accidently hitting and airplane and distracting the pilot. I've applied for a variance myself as a laser entertainer, and let me tell you; they're fairly complete in checking on everything... that's why most clubs don't have their laser effects anywhere near their audience... too difficult to get the equipment certified for that.