Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality News & Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Connected ambulance crews debut mixed-reality emergency response
By Paul Ridden
December 18, 2023

An ambulance service in Sri Lanka has equipped its EMTs with a mixed-reality headset to help deliver emergency care with the help of a live-feed doctor in the crucial moments before a patient is admitted to hospital.

Singapore-based digital healthcare startup Mediwave, part of Wavenet Telecomms, has rolled out its Emergency Response Suite to Emergency Response Technicians working for Sri Lankan pre-hospital ambulance service 1990 Suwa Seriya, delivering what's claimed to be the "world's first mixed-reality and AI-powered connected ambulance."

When a medical emergency is logged at a 1990 Command and Control Center, the EMT sent out in the connected ambulance could be wearing a Microsoft HoloLens mixed-reality headset. This will see the technician poking wildly in the air to access menus and systems out front of the wearer, but invisible to onlookers.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/m ... d-reality/

[weatheriscool]

A skin-integrated multimodal haptic interface to produce immersive tactile experiences
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-ski ... rsive.html
by Ingrid Fadelli , Tech Xplore

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies have become increasingly advanced over the past decade or so, enabling highly engaging gaming experiences and new forms of media entertainment. Yet there is still significant room to improvement, particularly in terms of artificially stimulating other senses beyond vision and hearing.

Researchers at City University of Hong Kong and other institutes in China have been trying to develop new interfaces that would allow end-users to closely connect with virtual environments through their sense of touch. In a recent paper, published in Nature Electronics, they introduced a new haptic interface that delivers multi-dimensional tactile signals directly on the skin, eliciting realistic sensations that could further enhance virtual experiences.

"Currently, global research on flexible electronics primarily focuses on the development of flexible sensors, while the investigation into flexible feedback techniques remains limited," Ya Huang, co-author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

[Tadasuke]

If we would try to put 1000 watts PC specs (let's say overclocked Ryzen 7950X3D + two RTX 4090) into a 1 watt standalone VR headset, we could need even up to 1000x better energy efficiency, which could possibly take 30 or even up to 40 years, without achieving any better performance than achievable today. Unless, there is some huge situation-altering breakthrough.

So perhaps we will need to stick to some not particularly impressive specs, like perhaps something akin to PlayStation 5 or so in the foreseeable future, which btw wouldn't be far from what John Carmack was predicting. PS5 = 220 watts, PS5 Slim = 180 watts. Going down to 1 watt is still a long way and we are discussing only current PS5 level, nothing above that. I remind you, that Apple Vision Pro is going to last only 2 hours on its internal battery and Steam Deck OLED lasts 2.5-3.5 hours when not on full brightness.

Much better batteries and/or cooling would help. There are some solutions coming later this year, which could improve those (Frore Systems AirJet and lithium–sulfur batteries).

ARM architectures aren't as good in actual useful workloads as in some benchmarks. Quest 3 is possibly (I'm guessing) similarly fast as a PC with Ryzen 1600 running at 3 GHz and Radeon HD 6870 (Quest 2 like i5-2500 at 3 GHz and Radeon HD 5750). Though, I don't even know where to look for actual performance results.

[weatheriscool]

Zeiss Smart Glass tech could place a transparent camera mid-window
By Paul Ridden
January 05, 2024

German optics titan Zeiss is heading to CES next week to show off its Multifunctional Smart Glass technology, which can float "holographic" and augmented-reality content on a transparent surface for such things as head-up displays in cars, 3D control elements in smart homes, and even a transparent videocam in the middle of a glass panel.

Zeiss first announced the development in early 2019, and it had matured enough by last year for use in augmented-reality head-up displays (HUD) in aircraft cockpits. The company revealed plans to move into automotive applications at IAA Mobility 2023, and is now pushing for mass production in what VP Roman Kleindienst is calling a "Gutenberg moment for holography."

The technology is built around a thin polymer film that can "turn any glass surface (windows of buildings, transparent screens, side windows of vehicles) into an on-demand screen for communications." The company says that the film offers more than 92 percent transparency, features "ultra-high-precision optics," and combines projection, detection, illumination and filtering functionality.

https://newatlas.com/technology/zeiss-m ... -ces-2024/

[weatheriscool]

META Will Merge AI and Metaverse with AI Glasses
January 21, 2024 by Brian Wang

META CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram that META is dumping more than $10 billion into the computing infrastructure to develop AGI. AGI is AI that can match or surpass humans across a range of cognitively demanding tasks.

Meta’s two AI research efforts are brought closer together to support the long-term goals of building general intelligence, open-sourcing it responsibly, and making it available and useful to everyone in all of our daily lives. It’s clear that the next generation of services requires building full general intelligence, building the best AI assistants, AIs for creators, AIs for businesses and more that needs services in every area of AI.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/m ... asses.html

[weatheriscool]

Apple Might Have Sold 180,000 Vision Pro Headsets Already
It's a better-than-expected result for the $3,500 product.
By Josh Norem January 22, 2024
https://www.extremetech.com/electronics ... ts-already

Apple's highly anticipated Vision Pro headset went up for pre-order last week, and according to a new report, it might have exceeded Apple's expectations. One reliable Apple analyst suggests the company sold up to 180,000 units, so it saw around $630 million deposited into its bank account over the weekend. Despite apparent initial interest in the spendy headset, the future of the device is hardly set in stone, as it has a long road ahead if it wants to become the company's next must-have device.

Famed Apple analyst Min-Chi Kuo has posted a report analyzing how many Vision Pro headsets Apple has sold so far. His math appears to be partly based on pre-order shipping times, which will increase as units become sold out. As Engadget notes, Kuo initially estimated Apple would only produce 60,000 to 80,000 units, making it an extremely niche product for the company. His latest estimate states it sold between 160,000 to 180,000 units, meaning demand far exceeded supply, leading to immediate shipping delays for the device, with a starting price of $3,500.

[weatheriscool]

Phantom VR glove delivers a sense of touch, but leaves fingers free
By Ben Coxworth
January 29, 2024

There are now a number of high-tech gloves that deliver tactile sensations to VR users' fingertips when they touch virtual objects or surfaces. The Phantom glove is unique, however, in that it doesn't cover the fingers, leaving them free for real-world interactions.

Developed by Colorado-based VR startup Afference, the Phantom is the recipient of a CES 2024 Innovation Award.

The wearable device incorporates an electronics/battery module which is hard-wired to five adjustable-size rings fastened around the base of each finger. All of these components are connected to a lightweight fabric harness that is fastened around the wrist, and which does not cover the palm of the hand.

https://newatlas.com/vr/phantom-vr-glove-fingers-free/

[spryfusion]

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

Tesla owners told not to wear Apple virtual reality headsets while driving

3 hours ago

Tesla owners have been reminded to keep their eyes on the road after videos of drivers wearing Apple's virtual reality headset have gone viral.

US Secretary for Transport Pete Buttigieg posted on X (formerly Twitter) to say that all current vehicles require the driver to be engaged "at all times".

However, one driver admitted his video was a prank.

Tesla and Apple have been contacted for comment.

Videos posted online show people in the drivers seats of cars which have an autonomous mode, while wearing the Apple headset over their eyes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68215614