In the 1960s B-grade sci-fi movie The Man with the X-Ray Eye, the protagonist develops eye drops to see beyond the visible spectrum. Spoiler: The experiment didn’t go very well then. But new glasses developed by MIT in America offer an exciting application of augmented reality, a worthy successor to that cinematic fantasy. And you get much more actionable results. New augmented reality glasses use a combination of artificial vision and radio frequencies.
AR glasses using RFID technology
The first successful applications of augmented reality focused on the professional use of technology. For example, it displayed data in real time during a surgical operation or represented the position of a new wall on a construction site. In general, industrial environments such as wastewater treatment plants where hands-free work and immediate access to information are essential will benefit the most. At MIT, we are exploring new capabilities for augmented reality glasses and extending them to Find objects behind walls and parts in machinesSecret? The same RFID technology that identifies products in stores and warehouses.
Researchers program AR glasses, called X-AR, to display RFID tags on objects as virtual spheres. Imagine a courier company employee looking for a box in a pile of parcels. Select the package you’re looking for and a sphere will pop up as a digital overlay. This feature can also be used over obstacles and walls with an error of within 10 cm. Similarly, adding RFID tags to mechanical parts makes it easier to find parts that need replacement or maintenance.test achieved 96% efficiency to find the correct object.
Technical Challenges of “X-ray” AR Glasses
To achieve this level of accuracy, project developers should Built-in RFID antenna in AR glasses Powerful enough to detect tags in a predefined area. The technology is based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which aircraft use to map objects on the ground. As the user moves around the room, the signals from the RFID tags are combined with the positioning capabilities of the glasses to calculate object proximity.
When all this information is available, it is displayed holographically on the lens. Objects are represented by semi-transparent spheres, along with a path to reach them indicated by virtual footprints on the ground that update in real time as the user approaches. Once the object is retained, the graphical interface verifies that it is correct.
Following this initial testing phase, researchers plan to analyze other radio frequency technologies such as WiFi and mmWave used in 5G antennas to improve their interaction and display capabilities.They also hope to extend the antenna range to improve current three meter limit.
Other applications of augmented reality
If you follow the site, you’ll see that we’ve recently covered several augmented, mixed, and virtual reality applications. One of the most impressive is allowing users of AR glasses to translate the interlocutor’s words in real time and display them as subtitles on the lenses. Also, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, the construction industry is already harnessing the potential of augmented reality to speed up projects and improve productivity. However, AR devices also need to be optimized for ergonomics and usability if the technology is to become widespread. One approach could be the development of smart contact his lenses that display holograms directly in the eye.
sauce:
