Vuzix、AR対応の透過式サングラス型ディスプレイを製品化

写真拡大

ウェアラブルディスプレイの Vuzix が、 " SMART Glasses " 技術を採用したサングラス型ディスプレイの製品化を発表しました。SMART Glasses はVuzix がノキアから得たEPE (Exit Pupil Expanding) 技術ライセンスのもと開発した透過型ディスプレイ技術。一般的なサングラス程度のサイズでありながら、映像と外部を重ねて見られるシースルー型、HD解像度といった特徴を備えることから、Vuzix は「ウェアラブルディスプレイ界の聖杯」と豪語しています。

発表によれば、これまでは目の前にディスプレイや従来型の屈折・反射光学系を置く必要から「ヘッドマウントディスプレイ」と呼ばれるような大きさになっていたのに対して、SMART Glasses では厚さ1.4mmのプラスチック製導光レンズとホログラム技術を組み合わせることで光学系の大幅な小型化を実現します。また外界の光と映像を重ねて表示する透過型であることから、インターネット接続デバイスと連携したARアプリケーションにも対応することが可能です。

Vuzix は片目型・両目型の " SMART Glasses " を法人・産業用に加えて一般向け製品としても展開する計画。まもなく開幕するラスベガス CES 2012でプロトタイプを披露したのち、2012年の夏に産業用の製品から販売する予定です。続きは英文のプレスリリース。

Gallery: Vuzix SMART Glasses Technology


Vuzix Announces Plans for SMART Glasses Technology - Holy Grail of Wearable Display Industry, See-Through HD Glasses in a Designer Sunglasses Form Factor - at CES 2012

See New Vuzix SMART Glasses Technology in action at CES - Central Hall Booth #13646

LAS Vegas - January 10, 2012 - Vuzix Corporation (TSX-V: VZX, OTC:BB: VUZI, FMB: V7X), award-winning manufacturer of video eyewear, is excited to unveil SMART Glasses Technology - Integrated HD display engines and waveguide optics that literally break the boundaries of conventional optics and display solutions. For decades wearable displays have been referred to as Head Mounted Displays because of their bulky size and odd appearance; primarily attributable to the displays and conventional refractive and or reflective optics that they employ. This older technology is limited by the laws of optical physics that result in form factors that are large, heavy, and practically impossible to make into fashion eyewear.

Now after years of internal developments and our recent licensing relationship with Nokia Corporation SMART Glasses Technology is finally here. This amazing new technology starts with a compact display engine capable of hi contrast and brightness for outdoor use. The output is then relayed into a 1.4 mm thick plastic waveguide lens with input and output hologram structures on the surface which squeezes the light down the waveguide and then two dimensionally expands the image back into the user's eye, creating an image that is then mixed into the real world. And, all this technology neatly fits into the temples & lenses of a conventional pair of eyewear!

As the name implies, SMART Glasses are much more than just a wearable TV. Designed to work with SMART Devices that are typically connected to the internet, SMART Glasses are interactive and merge virtual information with the real world. They can be used at night or outdoors in full daylight.

Vuzix is planning a line of both monocular and binocular SMART Glasses for the Commercial, Industrial and Consumer markets. With integrated head tracking and options for multiple camera technologies Vuzix SMART Glasses can broaden the users' sensory perception across a greatly expanded light spectrum; additionally they can be used to recognize their environment along with their position in the real world, all-the-while recording and transmitting what the user sees.
From standalone solutions for night vision and first responder use to fully internet connected and geospatially aware devices for amazing Augmented Reality applications.