Transparent Display glasses (Augmented Reality)

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the development and challenges of transparent display glasses for augmented reality applications. Participants explore various design inspirations, including both man-made and natural systems, and discuss potential solutions to existing problems in the technology.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes their work on improving augmented reality glasses, highlighting challenges in achieving effective transparent displays despite advances in display technology.
  • The participant mentions borrowing design concepts from nature, specifically the compound eyes of insects and the function of Muller cells in the retina, to address these challenges.
  • Another participant shares their past experience with a heads-up display (HUD) version of a computer display, indicating a shared interest in similar technologies.
  • A participant references a new display development that could potentially be useful, while also noting that all display technologies face challenges with light rays entering at angles that may be difficult for the human eye to refocus on.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express interest in the topic and share insights, but there is no consensus on specific solutions or the effectiveness of the proposed designs. Multiple viewpoints on the challenges and potential of different display technologies remain present.

Contextual Notes

Participants discuss various assumptions regarding the effectiveness of different display technologies and the biological inspirations for design, but these assumptions are not universally accepted or resolved.

ATdisplays
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Hello All,

I'm not really sure if this is the spot where I should post this, but I'll give it a shot. For the last 2 yrs. I've been working on improving the current generation of Augmented Reality glasses (transparent display or "see-through" display glasses). The main reason you only see transparent display glasses in science fiction and not in real life is because there are challenges that you have to overcome when dealing with Augmented Reality. This is the case despite the breath taking progress seen in display technologies in recent years.

To counteract these problems, I borrowed man-made designs as well from nature. Man-made designs are easy to copy (like light sensitive CMOS chips), but adopting how nature solves the problem of vision was the real challenge. I adopted the design of Compound Eyes used in insects (see Wikipedia "Eye" under Compound Eyes) and also the function of how Muller cells in the retina act like fiber optic cables or wave guides (the rod and cone cells in our eyes are facing the opposite direction of the light coming in, but Muller cells redirect light to them - http://www.vision-research.eu/index.php?id=160 ).

I haven't had much luck in finding others who would be interested in this kind of stuff, so instead of fruitlessly working on this, I'll give it out to the public and hopefully someone can adopt it and put it to good, practical use. To do that I made a series of videos explaining the issues with Transparent Display glasses and what the possible solutions to them might be. If you have questions on this, then I'll try to the best of my abilities to answer them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwiwqiLgwi4&feature=channel_video_title
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
Welcome to the PF.

Interesting project. I worked on something similar a number of years ago, basically a HUD version of a computer display.
 
ATdisplays said:
Hello All,

I'm not really sure if this is the spot where I should post this, but I'll give it a shot. For the last 2 yrs. I've been working on improving the current generation of Augmented Reality glasses (transparent display or "see-through" display glasses). The main reason you only see transparent display glasses in science fiction and not in real life is because there are challenges that you have to overcome when dealing with Augmented Reality. This is the case despite the breath taking progress seen in display technologies in recent years.

To counteract these problems, I borrowed man-made designs as well from nature. Man-made designs are easy to copy (like light sensitive CMOS chips), but adopting how nature solves the problem of vision was the real challenge. I adopted the design of Compound Eyes used in insects (see Wikipedia "Eye" under Compound Eyes) and also the function of how Muller cells in the retina act like fiber optic cables or wave guides (the rod and cone cells in our eyes are facing the opposite direction of the light coming in, but Muller cells redirect light to them - http://www.vision-research.eu/index.php?id=160 ).

I haven't had much luck in finding others who would be interested in this kind of stuff, so instead of fruitlessly working on this, I'll give it out to the public and hopefully someone can adopt it and put it to good, practical use. To do that I made a series of videos explaining the issues with Transparent Display glasses and what the possible solutions to them might be. If you have questions on this, then I'll try to the best of my abilities to answer them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwiwqiLgwi4&feature=channel_video_title

This is an interesting new display development -- maybe you can use it in your work:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/drive_to_discover&id=8229532

.
 
Thanks for the link Berkeman. That was actually an interesting video and I don't think I've seen another technology quite like it. I can see some real potential for that and GM seems to be putting it to some practical use ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR5EAEGM4-U&feature=player_embedded&hd=1 ).

The downside to it is that regardless of which display technology you use (LCD, OLED/AMOLED, DLP, etc...) you will still have to deal with light rays coming in at angles that are too wide for your eyes to refocus if the display screen is close to the eyes. Nonetheless I'll keep my eyes open and see how else this technology could be used/adopted.
 

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