A new augmented reality helmet that mixes the real world with computer-generated images has been developed by a student from the Netherlands.
During his course at Delft University of Technology, Jurjen Caarls developed image processing technology that allowed the "mixing and filtering of information" from a range of different sensors.
Caarls worked in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague for the next stage of the process, which was to develop a helmet that would display both virtual and real objects at the same time.
The process is complicated: in order to display real and virtual objects convincingly, the helmet has to be able to change the viewer's perspective on the virtual object as he or she moves through the real world. This requires highly sensitive tracking to sense movement and powerful software to reposition and redraw the virtual objects so that they appear fixed within the real world.
Caarls is not revealing exactly how the helmet works, but does say that he used two small screens and two semi-transparent mirrors built into the headset. It also includes a camera, angular velocity sensors and accelerometers, which fed the information they capture to a laptop running the software that Caarls developed.
Caarls believes that the further development of augmented reality could lead to an entirely novel interaction between man and computer. "I can imagine a future in which people experience augmented reality by wearing glasses with integrated displays that project images on their retinas. These images will seem to be just another part of reality. Think of it as a visual Walkman," he said.