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More than Meets the Eye continued
medical scans could be displayed directly
on patients.
HUD for winter sports
In the consumer space, one company
actually selling products that incorporate
this technology is Recon Instruments,
based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Released last fall, Recon’s Micro
Optics Display (MOD) and MOD
Live HUD products provide people
engaged in skiing, snowboarding and
snowmobiling navigation, performance
and communication data. The modular
products snap-fit into the frames of
alpine goggles made by about half a dozen
companies that partner with Recon,
according to Hamid Abdollahi, the firm’s
chief technology officer.
MOD’s full-color, widescreen
micro-LCD provides real-time
information such as speed, time, jump
airtime, GPS location, vertical and total
travel distance, temperature and altitude.
MOD Live offers all the same features, as
well as wireless smart-phone connectivity.
Recon’s HUDs feature a powerful
processor, numerous sensors and
advanced optics, according to the
company. The devices gather and process
data, which is then magnified by an ocular
lens to produce a virtual image for the
eye. The display, which measures about
6mm diagonally, is manufactured using
a proprietary microfabrication process.
Wearers of the HUD-equipped goggles
must look down to see the data-carrying
virtual images, just as the driver of a
car must look down to see information
displayed on the dashboard. This is to
avoid distracting wearers involved in
fast-paced activities that demand their
attention, Abdollahi explained.
Real augmented reality
Although useful, Recon’s products
don’t offer AR technology, which overlays
computer-generated images onto a real
scene.
An example of AR familiar to people
who watch football games on TV is the
virtual first-down line superimposed
on the actual football field. Another
example offered by MacIntyre is a virtual
restaurant review attached to the front
of the restaurant itself. In both cases, the
26 | MAY/JUNE 2012 | MICROmanufacturing
Recon Instruments
Recon Instruments’ MOD Live is a “heads-up” display for alpine goggles and provides skiers
and riders with real-time information.
virtual images don’t just float randomly
before your eyes; they are integrated into
your real-world view.
Though the Google glasses have been
described as AR technology, the images
released of what the glasses might look
like don’t show displays that appear
capable of delivering an AR experience
as MacIntyre defines it.
Then there’s the question of the
potential market. “When you look at
the Google Glass video, it seems cool
that you can do all those little things,”
MacIntyre said. “But would you really
keep that piece of eyewear on all the time
just for that? I don’t think the collection
of applications you saw in the video
would be enough to drive significant
adoption of this kind of display.”
Unlike Google, Vuzix Corp. already
has AR eyewear on the market. The
company’s latest AR development is its
SMART Glasses technology, scheduled
for release in product form later this year.
Vuzix
Vuzix will release its new SMART
augmented-reality glasses in both binocular
(above) and monocular versions (left).
Contributors
Georgia Tech Augmented
Environments Lab
http://ael.gatech.edu/lab/
Innovega Inc.
(425) 516-8175
innovega-inc.com
Recon Instruments
(604) 638-1608
www.reconinstruments.com
Vuzix Corp.
(585) 359-5900
www.vuzix.com
Designed to fit into the temples and
lenses of a conventional pair of glasses,
the technology includes a compact
display engine capable of high contrast