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Wearable LCD Display

Posted by michael on Sat Oct 16, 2004 06:19 PM
from the heads-up dept.
Technology
fenimor writes "PhysOrg reports, that Mitsubishi is going to introduce next year a headset with a small liquid-crystal display screen which is positioned in front, slightly below eye level so as not to obstruct normal vision. Designed for users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, this tiny wearable heads-up display is expected to cost only US $400."
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[+] Hardware: Where Are the High-Res Head-Mounted Displays? 384 comments
vivian writes "Ever since 1996, when I first set eyes on a Sony GlassTron head-mounted display in Japan, I have been awaiting a lightweight, head-mounted display that actually has decent resolution and doesn't look like a brick tied to your face. The closest contender to date seems to be the WRAP 920AV from Vuzix, and they are partially transparent too, which is great, but as with every other unit I have found, they only offer video quality — 640x480. Given that there have been a number of other discussions on Slashdot, I can't be the only one here who is eagerly awaiting something that could actually be a viable alternative to a PC monitor — especially for gaming or 3d graphics work. Perhaps we could petition a manufacturer to make what we actually want? Something with a minimum of 1024x768 @30-60hz refresh, say, and capable of stereo vision. Extra karma if they incorporate head tracking."
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  • I already wear glasses, will this work with me?
    • Are you near or farsighted?

      • Re:Spectacles (Score:5, Funny)

        by Big Mark (575945) <m_t_douglas&hotmail,com> on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:32PM (#10547208)
        Depends on how ugly she is and how drunk I am... Normally farsighted though. What difference does it make?

        • Re:Spectacles (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          It should not be a problem.
          In the picture, the display is around four inches from the face. There is enough room to wear glasses as well.

          Optics in camera viewfinders etc are still useable with glasses, so this should be too.
          • The optics in... well anything assume that the glasses I wear cover the viewfinder/eyepiece/whatever - which is a reasonable assumption, as if I am looking through a camcorder or telescope eyepiece then I will be looking directly at it, so the glasses will lie between the eyepiece and my pupil.

            Of course "tall" aviator-style glasses cover the entire field of view with corrective lenses and so they'll work, but as lots of (most?) people wear "short" fashion specs the part of the field of view that is occupi
            • I would think that it would be adjustible. If it is too low, you could probably raise it higher, though then it would be more likely to obstruct your vision. I would thus suspect these would work best for people with perfect vision or who wear contact lenses.

              I can tell you right now there is no way I would be able to use this thing. I'm farsighted and in order for me to comfortably read something it has to be at least a foot away from my eyes, even when wearing glasses. Now that I think about it, don'

  • Wow. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Power Everywhere (778645) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:20PM (#10547151) Homepage
    I never thought we'd get to the point where people had to attach televisions to themselves. I can already hear the bickering over usage rights while driving. I'm beginning to think that John Titor wasn't so wrong.
      • What it can be used for is to access material related to whatever physical task you are currently performing. If you're working on your car, you could access electronic reference materials. If you're walking around a strange town or city, you could pull up a map of the area, a list of restaurants, or a language reference if you're in another country. I don't think people would really be trying to use it to, say, write code while they're driving (hopefully!).

  • How do I use it with glasses? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Crusty Oldman (249835) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:22PM (#10547164)
    How do I use it with glasses? I'm an old man, and can't see anything closer than three feet away WITH glasses. How the heck am I going to read that tiny screen?

    • Re:How do I use it with glasses? (Score:5, Funny)

      by RealProgrammer (723725) on Saturday October 16 2004, @07:02PM (#10547353) Homepage Journal
      Don't use a glass, use a tippy cup. Otherwise you'll spill your vodka all down your shirt.

    • Re:How do I use it with glasses? (Score:4, Informative)

      by FrenZon (65408) * on Saturday October 16 2004, @10:02PM (#10548169) Homepage
      How do I use it with glasses?

      When headset manufacturers say things like 'equivalent to a 90" screen at 7 feet!!', it's not just fancy marketing talk - the distance is usually the focal distance of the display. I found out this out with my i-glasses, which were specced as a massive screen at 8' or so - I worked out the ratio and said "that's like a 19" screen at 3', cool." unfortunately, while I can easily read a 19" screen at 3', I can't read the equivalently large screen at 8' due to short sightedness. Wearing normal glasses or contacts underneath helps, if you can get them to fit.

      Some headsets include adjustable focal length, which I think is a necessity.

  • YES!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by fireboy1919 (257783) <rustyp.freeshell@org> on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:25PM (#10547175) Homepage Journal
    I plan to be the first person to cause a fender-bender from a chatroom.

  • so? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Yonkeltron (720465)
    this is pretty neat. now i will be able to watch babylon 5 reruns and code at the same time. but then again, what kind of a device will this display hook up to?

  • Could be a big thing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jridley (9305) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:26PM (#10547181)
    If they perfect these things, I'd use one as my normal monitor. I have no particular love of having a big ass thing on my desk (even an LCD). If it covers the same apparent field of view, I'd go for it.

    Combined with a folding keyboard, this could help portable computers get a lot smaller too.

    Odds are it draws a lot less power than a full size LCD panel; should help portable PC power consumption as well; I think the LCD is one of the major power hogs.

    • Re:Could be a big thing (Score:5, Informative)

      by Saeger (456549) <farrellj@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Saturday October 16 2004, @07:18PM (#10547445) Homepage
      Even better than a LCD HUD is a Retinal Scanning Display (RSD) [washington.edu], but the tech isn't as mature yet. RSD's have a long list of advantages over LCDs and CRTs [mvis.com].

      --

      • I don't care what they say about laser power levels and eye safety: I don't want coherent light beamed into my eyes. A failure in the laser diode's current limiting and the next frame will paint permanent darkness. Forget it.
      • Another advantage of an RSD is that it is a spinoff of a device to scan the retina, and adding one more beam-splitter and a photodiode on the laser side of the scanner lets the display do this, too.

        That leads to two extra functions:

        1) The retina print can be used for a "password". (Fewer worries about somebody who steals your wearable getting at your data or using your comm account to make 20-hour calls to 900 services in Malagua or spam the whole internet.)

        2) The display can measure where you're looking - and use that (with suitable algorithms to keep the cursor from being obtrusive) as your pointing device. (Look-and-click means one less device in your hand, i.e. a chord keyboard with mouse button chords in its vocabulary. And it ought to be a bunch faster than mousing.)

  • One question (Score:5, Funny)

    by TimmyDee (713324) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:28PM (#10547187) Homepage Journal
    Does the back of the miniature display flash "NERD" for everyone else to see? You know, in case it wasn't obvious.
    • Does the back of the miniature display flash "NERD" for everyone else to see?


      Doesn't need to. The utility belt with the palm, pager, digital camera, and a bandolier of batteries and flash cards is usually a dead giveaway. ;-P

  • vga input? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by weighn (578357) <weighn.gmail@com> on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:29PM (#10547189) Homepage
    the article suggests it only takes a tv signal. I'd like one of these for my flight simming. My desk just can't bear one more monitor.
  • Looks like a Jem'hedar viewscreen kinda.
  • Tiger (maker of cheapo LCD games) put out the R-zone game machine in the '90s. One form of the R-Zone was a headset with a controller attached. A clear piece of plastic flipped out over the player's left eye.

  • Res, res, res (Score:4, Insightful)

    by condour75 (452029) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:32PM (#10547207) Homepage
    The video is cute and futuristic but what's the resolution? If it's under 800x600 it's kind of useless. 1024x768 and I'd consider it, although I can't see it improving my sex life.
    • Why? This isn't supposed to replace your desktop monitor, its supposed to give you a hud to display specially crafted apps. You could get away with 300x200 on it really, all you'll be doing is outputting info, most likely using text and small icons.

      Once it gets a few years of tech down the line, a nice 1600x1200 display to directly overlay images on top of real life could be useful too (eg, showing an infobox on top of people, specificly re-coloring/highlighting objects, etc), but to say its not even usefu

  • DPI? Power? (Score:3, Funny)

    by RealProgrammer (723725) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:38PM (#10547235) Homepage Journal
    TFA and TFV didn't say much about the specs.

    I wonder what the display output will be?

    It's obviously powered by thought-wave absorbtion, so that's the good news. No batteries!

  • Great for laptops/PDAs (Score:4, Interesting)

    by for_usenet (550217) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:40PM (#10547243)
    This should be a really neat way to get rid of power hungry displays. This device will draw some power, but hopefully, by virtue of its size, nowhere near the amount of a conventional laptop or PDA display. It should definitely open up some interesting possibilities. Imagine being able to shut off your laptop display, with this plugged into the VGA port, and drawing it's necessary power from a powered USB or Firewire port. Mmmmm ... Tasty ...

  • Move along people... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Gentlewhisper (759800) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:42PM (#10547252)
    Bill Gates already got this. Remember the picture of him we see on slashdot?

  • Projection (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Big Mark (575945) <m_t_douglas&hotmail,com> on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:42PM (#10547256)
    I'm wondering - is there any chance of projection into the retina in a device like this?

    You get LCD alarm clocks that project images of the time onto the wall already, surely it's only a matter of time before VDU images are projected into the retina...
  • The voice over on those videos sounds strange. It's probably better that having a Japanese sound track, but it's freaking me out...
  • Finally, there's a production model of something like this. Maybe those memory prosthesis prototypes being worked on at MIT, among other places, will come to market before too long?

    And that's in addition to all the more generally in-demand applications.

  • *sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Seabass55 (472183) on Saturday October 16 2004, @06:48PM (#10547284) Homepage
    "users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously"

    Or maybe people should simply unplug once in a while and enjoy some of the real world. All I can imagine is some idiot using this while he's driving and causing an accident...this is far worse than cell phones. Yeah sure there's a power advantage like someone mentioned above for laptops...we'd be better off spending money on designing new longer lasting batteries than this thing.
  • As long as it leaves me with a pleasurable sensation that I don't have to go Risa, I'm all for it.

    How about you, Wesley?
  • It's just like my favorite song, Head Games from 80's super-group Foreigner.
  • ... kill me now, please!
  • Is anyone else having images of the same idiot that eats a borrito while talking on his cellphone while looking at a map while driving using this behind the wheel?

  • Not exactly old hat but.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Chocolate Teapot (639869) on Saturday October 16 2004, @07:02PM (#10547355) Journal
    Here [hypertrek.org] is the original version.

  • Multitasking Generation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by izomiac (815208) on Saturday October 16 2004, @07:50PM (#10547641) Homepage
    Has anyone else noticed the impossibly fast evolution of multitasking ability?

    People over 70 have trouble doing one thing at one time

    People over 55 seem to have trouble walking and cheqing gum simultaniously

    People over 30 think that they can drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time

    College and high school students can take note on a laptop while carrying on 6 simultanious AIM conversations while paying enough attention to the teacher to know if they are growing supicious

    What's next... babies with tenticles [planet-familyguy.com]?
    • 60 years ago 20yr old boys were dropping out of aircraft or running up beaches handling lethal tools while reading maps, scanning for thousands of visual clues, remembering several orders and tasks, keeping track of the rest of their team, calculating the trajectory of ballistic objects in flight ALL AT THE SAME TIME AND WITHOUT SLEEP.

      Todays 20yr old boys can barely control a desktop without it getting invested and complain bitterly when they got to press forward for to long in their shooter or bullets don

  • Cost only $400 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Stevyn (691306) on Saturday October 16 2004, @08:18PM (#10547770)
    That may still seem expensive to slashdotters who know the ins and outs of finding cheap hardware on the Internet, but this is the automotive industry. When purchasing a new car, an extra $500 may get you a decent audio system that would cost $300 at Best Buy. So considering their normal markup, this isn't a bad price for an unnecessary upgrade.
    • Actually, knowing the VR and AR industry, this is actually a very cheap wearable-style "HMD" - $400 is a steal (heh, I remember paying $250.00 for a open-box StuntMaster from Best Buy in 1993 or so).

  • Excuse me while I curse incoherantly... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NeuroManson (214835) on Saturday October 16 2004, @08:36PM (#10547842) Homepage
    Okay, I'm done. Now my big question is simple:

    Anyone can buy a Gameboy Advance with a backlit LCD for about $79.

    Anyone can buy a digital camera with built in 1.5" LCD for $120.

    Anyone can buy a 15" LCD display for their PC for $300 on average.

    So WHY is it that a monacle LCD using (technically) less technology costs 3-4 times that price? It's bloody stupid.

  • It's called the SCOPO (Score:4, Funny)

    by Doyle (620849) on Saturday October 16 2004, @09:02PM (#10547934)
    It's called the SCOPO. This infringes our intellectual property. The charge will be $699 per headset.

    Thanks,
    Darl

  • How is this new? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BlightThePower (663950) on Saturday October 16 2004, @09:18PM (#10548000)
    I can't really tell from the webpage, but it seems the same as the MicroOptical HUD [microopticalcorp.com] I have sitting on my desk. Its been around for a few years now, its certainly not brand new. Can anyone explain the ins and outs?

  • Specs? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Writer (746272) on Sunday October 17 2004, @12:08AM (#10548606)
    What resolution can these things display? The linked article and video doesn't mention anything. MicroOptical [microopticalcorp.com] already makes things like these. They have a number of different versions [microopticalcorp.com] and can display at VGA (640x480) resolution. They have binocular [microopticalcorp.com] versions, and there's even one [microopticalcorp.com] in which the display is a reflective portion of a transparent eyeglass lens that looks like a bifocal. Why wait until next year for this one from Mitsubishi when MicroOptical already has a whole range of different kinds now?
    • I thought LCDs don't produce EMI because they don't use an electron gun like a CRT does.

      Yes / No ? I really am not sure here...

      • No, LCD doesn't emit EMI radiation. But this makes me think of another question... Are there any long term effects from using it? Like eye strain, or headaches, or nausea?

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