Researchers at
the University of North Carolina, has created a prototype headset that just
might top them all. The display, called Pinlight Display, offer a field of view
that basically wipes all current glasses out of the water. Today’s
state-of-the-art commercial augmented reality glasses have a field of view of
40° or less, while Pinlight prototypes have demonstrated fields of view of 100°
or more. Here’s how it works: Conventional augmented reality glasses use
lenses, beam splitters, waveguides, reflectors and other optics to relay an
image to the eye. The team have tossed aside these conventional optical
components and replaced them with something called pinlights. Pinlights are an
array of bright dots that have been etched in a small piece of glass with a 3-D
printer. A transparent display panel is placed between the pinlights and the
eye to soften the light and form the perceived image.
We know this all
sounds very mechanical, but here’s what it comes down to: Anyone who has wore a
pair of virtual reality glasses before knows that when you pop them on,
peripheral vision is practically nonexistent. So while whatever image being
projected in front of you might look great, it’s still always a little
disorienting not to have a full range of vision. That problem is sufficiently
lessened with this invention. Their idea is to make augmented reality less of a
gimmick and more of an integral part of life. This headset is in the works, but
don’t expect to find it in stores anytime in the immediate future. Currently,
the prototype’s biggest pitfall is its low resolution. While you can see more
with Pinlight, the image quality is still far below what you’ll find in
commercial augmented reality glasses. But after some minor (and major) bugs are
fixed, who knows what these babies might be capable of?
More
information: