‘Visual Walkman’ Offers Augmented Reality

“Augmented reality” involves mixing the real world with computer-generated images. The result is a kind of visual Walkman. Jurjen Caarls developed a prototype, which is the subject of a doctoral dissertation that he recently defended at Delft Univesity of Technology (The Netherlands).

One example of augmented reality is a special helmet, in which images are projected into the wearer’s eyes, thereby creating the illusion that these images are part of reality. It is as if extra elements are being added to reality.

Football advertising

A simpler form of real-time augmented reality is already being used during televised football matches. This technology is used to create virtual billboards on either side of the goals, as an additional option for advertisers. Whatever the camera angle, these virtual billboards seem to be perfectly aligned with real on-screen objects. This is made possible by adjusting the projection of these images using information on the current ‘state’ of the live camera.

Sensors

However, things get considerably more complicated when people start moving around within an augmented reality environment. In these situations, of course, the only way to achieve acceptable results is to have accurate, moment-by-moment information on the position and orientation of the individual in question (and especially that of their eyes) relative to the real space around them. This information is fed into the system by various sensors. The equipment built into the augmented reality helmet includes a camera, angular velocity sensors, and accelerometers.

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Tags: angular velocity, AR, augmented reality, camera angle, computer generated images, illusion, killer app, reality environment, velocity sensors, walkman

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Communications, Computers & Humans, Consider This, Cutting-edge Research, Innovation, Science Digest / Science Daily, Shape of Things to Come?, disruptive innovation, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.