3D augmented reality to regular glasses
Researchers from the Stanford University in the emerging field of spatial computing have developed a prototype augmented reality headset
the headset uses holographic imaging to overlay full-color, 3D moving images on the lenses of what would appear to be an ordinary pair of glasses
“Our headset appears to the outside world just like an everyday pair of glasses, but what the wearer sees through the lenses is an enriched world overlaid with vibrant, full-color 3D computed imagery,” said Gordon Wetzstein, an associate professor of electrical engineering and an expert in the fast-emerging field of spatial computing.
“One could imagine a surgeon wearing such glasses to plan a delicate or complex surgery or airplane mechanic using them to learn to work on the latest jet engine,” Manu Gopakumar, a doctoral student in the Wetzstein-led Stanford Computational Imaging lab and co-first author of the paper said.
To produce more visually satisfying 3D images, Wetzstein leapfrogged traditional stereoscopic approaches in favor of holography, a Nobel-winning visual technique developed in the late-1940s. Despite great promise in 3D imaging, more widespread adoption of holography has been limited by an inability to portray accurate 3D depth cues, leading to an underwhelming, sometimes nausea-inducing, visual experience.
The Wetzstein team used AI to improve the depth cues in the holographic images. Then, using advances in nanophotonics and waveguide display technologies, the researchers were able to project computed holograms onto the lenses of the glasses without relying on bulky additional optics.
A waveguide is constructed by etching nanometer-scale patterns onto the lens surface. Small holographic displays mounted at each temple project the computed imagery through the etched patterns which bounce the light within the lens before it is delivered directly to the viewer’s eye. Looking through the glasses’ lenses, the user sees both the real world and the full-color, 3D computed images displayed on top.
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