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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
For most of human history, the way to get custom shapes and colors onto one's retinas was to draw it on a cave wall, or a piece of parchment, or on paper. Later on, we invented electronic displays and used them for everything from televisions to computers, even toying with displays that gave the illusion of a 3D shape existing in front of us. Yet what if one could just skip this surface and draw directly onto our retinas?
Admittedly, the thought of aiming lasers directly at the layer of cells at the back of our eyeballs — the delicate organs which allow us to see — likely does not give one the same response as you'd have when thinking of sitting in front of a 4K, 27″ gaming display to look at the same content. Yet effectively we'd have the same photons painting the same image on our retinas. And what if it could be an 8K display, cinema-sized. Or maybe have a HUD overlay instead, like in video games?
In many ways, this concept of virtual retinal displays as they are called is almost too much like science-fiction, and yet it's been the subject of decades of research, with increasingly more sophisticated technologies making it closer to an every day reality. Will we be ditching our displays and TVs for this technology any time soon?
[...] Naturally, the very first question that may come to one's mind when hearing about VDRs is why it's suddenly okay to shine not one but three lasers into your eyes? After all, we have been told to never, not even once, point even the equivalent of a low-powered laser pointer at a person, let alone straight at their eyes. Some may remember the 2014 incident at the Burning Man festival where festival goers practically destroyed the sight of a staff member with handheld lasers.
The answer to these concerns is that very low-powered lasers are used. Enough to draw the images, not enough to do more than cause the usual wear and tear from using one's eyes to perceive the world around us. As the light is projected straight onto the retina, there is no image that can become washed out in bright sunlight. Companies like Bosch have prototypes of VRD glasses, with the latter recently showing off their BML500P Bosch Smartglasses Light Drive solution. They claim an optical output power of <15 µW.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @03:26PM (3 children)
What could possibly go wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:32PM
I may eventually get these, but I'll be waiting a good long time before doing so, just to see what the effects of this technology is on the eyes themselves.
In theory, this should be less damaging to the eyes that other methods that have been used for VR, but in practice, if they don't get it aimed correctly with an appropriate amount of light, there's all sorts of possible unforeseen consequences.
It's best to just let other people beta test this before buying one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 19 2020, @05:17AM
Did we learn nothing from Sword Art Online?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Sunday April 19 2020, @10:07AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by J_Darnley on Saturday April 18 2020, @03:27PM (2 children)
Lasers output coherent light. I don't have the impression that most display back lights (fluorescent tubes or LEDs) do that.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @03:43PM (1 child)
Research demonstrates method to alter coherence of light
In a finding that could have broad applications in optical devices, Brown University researchers have shown that they can transform incoherent light to almost fully coherent and vice versa.
https://www.brown.edu/news/2017-10-18/coherence [brown.edu]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 19 2020, @05:46AM
I can do the reverse. In fact, I'm able to drive anything and anyone incoherent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Saturday April 18 2020, @03:33PM (6 children)
Just hook up to the visual cortex. It's probably safer
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday April 18 2020, @07:50PM (4 children)
How do you propose we hook directly up to the Visual Cortex in a way that's safer than directing light into the eyes in the same manner that they're already operating under?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:10PM (3 children)
Don't know yet. I just don't want this [youtu.be] to happen to my retinas.
I think I'll wait for 3D color holograms that can be projected on top the coffee table.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:18PM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:31PM
Start with the right parietal lobe. Rumor has it I'll see god.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday April 18 2020, @10:59PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:13PM
It has been done. I remember reading about a test case for it ca. 20 years ago. It isn't safer.
In the future we'll engineer the cortical stack to be sensitive to different frequencies of magnetic waves in a clever way, so we can just put fancy skullcaps on and augment our brains that way. Sounds ridiculous but it's in reach, we could be making meaningful progress on it today... we're just squeamish.
Otoh, messing with the cortex directly in order to provide sensory input is not an ideal situation. A recipe for migraines. But the nerve bundles we want to tap into aren't on the surface. C'est la vie.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 18 2020, @03:39PM (4 children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGaEHuCuAs [youtube.com]
Normal looking glasses, unlike Google's offering a couple years ago. Well - for varying definitions of "normal", I prefer aviator's glasses, but these look pretty normal. Apparently, you can get prescription glasses, but I saw nothing anywhere about ANSI safety glasses. You could wear your smart device on the job, right in front of the boss. I don't guess you could get away with playing music though.
Let it mature some, though. You don't want to be the guinea pig that finds out they can be shorted out in the rain, and burn your eyeballs out of your head!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday April 18 2020, @04:41PM (2 children)
Presumably, if you are beaming images into the retina, you could do a VR mode by just putting a shade on the glasses to block light.
For any of that cool stuff to work, you need 1-2 front-facing cameras built into it. They seem to have hidden it into the corner of the frame (0:18). No conspicuous design, no red Borg LED that screams "I'm a glasshole!".
It would be preferable if such a device worked without an internet connection. It should use something like 3DSoC to deliver a lot of local processing power. It looks like they have an ARM chip that is about 50mm2 on it (2:30), which is plenty of die area. They could even make the frame a little wider/thicker without compromising the appearance. Putting a minimum of 1 TB of storage in a device like this would be easy, especially a few years from now.
It could connect to hidden wireless earbuds, though I have never liked any earbuds that I've tried. And you'll still get caught if you zone out and someone asks you a question.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:20PM (1 child)
Why not a Miracast connection?
Cast screen to it?
Main problem I see is power. Miracast tech is not micropower (yet).
Course, Google will want Chromecast. I really don't want my stuff coming off the cloud.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday April 19 2020, @06:42PM
Is "micropower" needed? Google Glass Enterprise Edition came with dual-band 802.11n/ac Wi-Fi, and a 780 mAh battery (increased to 820 mAh with Edition 2).
That could be a larger battery than other smartglasses prototypes, but I don't see why Miracast couldn't be supported. The chips you see in that Bosch prototype/concept are pretty much the same as those found in a smartphone. One of them looks roughly 50mm2, and an 8-core Snapdragon 855 is 73.27 mm2.
If high bandwidth wireless standards remain battery guzzlers, the only way forward is to increase battery energy density.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by rigrig on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:25PM
Heh, "Stay Focused" it says.
And then it shows how awesome it is for random distractions to pop right into your face while driving, and how you can organize your calendar during the boring bits of a conversation without it being too obvious.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @04:28PM
*OMG* i hope it doesn't require windows drivers...
also would be cool if you could spot a camera somewhere and double tap the frame to see what the camera is seeing ...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday April 18 2020, @04:52PM
Introducing the new eyePhone [youtube.com].
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @05:08PM
Would like to see it hooked up to this [soylentnews.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @05:11PM
I have enough lasers hitting my eyes to save my sight. My glasses are too thick already. I have prism errors also.
So how are they going handle ALL the various eye conditions to over come to sync the sizes between eyes.
This is just a bad idea
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @07:51PM (1 child)
I don't know what they're doing, but after each eye check, my vision worsens. I never had this problem prior to going to the eye doctor.
Do I have a reason to complain or am I just stupid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2020, @08:14PM
Yes
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday April 18 2020, @10:18PM (1 child)
I know some CRTs would get brighter as they aged. Also failing car voltage regulators could cause a higher voltage output. I hope whatever circuitry powers these lasers doesn't have a similar mode of failure into retina-burning levels of brightness!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by crafoo on Saturday April 18 2020, @11:03PM
looks like from the story they are using a MEMS mirror array (like the TI chips in early 2000s rear projection TVs). They could, and probably do, make it fail-safe mechanically at the mirror array and also by optically limiting the power density possible at the retina. Both by the maximum possible power output of the lasers and by the selection of optical components to form the image at the retina.