Important Innovations

  World of Expanding Automotive Infotainment                                                Source: Audi & Holoride For Audi Passengers, New Virtual Reality Experiences The world of automotive infotainment systems just became a lot bigger and more exciting.  Audi is introducing virtual reality technology into many of its top models starting summer 2022.  The VR in-vehicle technology has been developed by Munich-based Holoride, which Audi helped to found. What differentiates this new VR tech is that it merges VR content with the car's driving movements in real-time, for passengers wearing VR glasses in the back of the car.  Audi is the first global automotive company to bring VR entertainment from Holoride into the series production of many of its key vehicle models.  For passengers, it promises to be a brand new, immersi...

Unique VR Headset Source:  GOOVIS Young Personal Mobile Cinema The GOOVIS Young VR headset has the feel of a gamechanger in the world of Virtual Reality.  First of all, it's not a head mounted computer like other VR systems on the market.  It's a face mounted display that is compatible with just about any device.  It's the creation of Shenzhen NED Optics of China.  The company says this display will make movie theatres obsolete.  They're calling GOOVIS Young the "personal mobile cinema". Big Screen, Big Functionality The 1080 p display projects images on the equivalent of an 800 inch screen.  It works with laptops, cell phones, tablets and more.  And the functionality is incredible. You can browse the internet, work, watch moves, game and even "fly with your drone".  GOOVIS Young is priced at about $1,000.  Shenzen NED Optics calls itself an innovation company focused on VR, AR and MD headsets.  To take a lo...

World's 1st Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Windshield Source:  Futurus Future of Driving:  Augmented Reality, Electric, Autonomous, Smart Vehicles The future of driving is zooming towards us and it is electric, autonomous and loaded with augmented reality.  The Chinese technology company Futurus, based in Beijing, has new technology to convert the entire car front windshield of your car into a virtual reality screen.  The transparent display is designed as a smart &/or autonomous human-machine interface platform. The Chinese scientists and engineers who invented it say it makes driving safer. Cutting Edge Technology This technology is a light screen projection system that provides a 60 degree field of view.  The functionality seems impressive.  It can alert drivers to hazards, display navigation guidance, play music, provide internet messages and social media.  The windshield can even display entertainment for passeng...

Visiting Global Heritage Sites with VR Source:  CyArk's 3D VR Image of Ancient Stone Temples in Thailand No Need to Leave Home to Tour This is one of the greatest uses of technology and virtual reality.  Google and a non-profit CyArk have collaborated on a website Open Heritage that allows you to tour global heritage sites via a virtual reality app without ever leaving your home.  You can tour the ruins of Pompei or a 1,000 year old Mayan Temple online and/or enhance it with VR googles right at home.  For a great news blog Important Innovations Collection: Visiting World Sites with VR : Virtual Reality Tours of Global Heritage Sites Source:  CyArk 3D VR image of ancient stone temples in Thailand  Google & CyArk Co...

Facebook Believes VR is Next Big Thing Quest Headset Quest Facebook unveiled a wireless VR headset this week called Oculus Quest.  The company is pushing to popularize the emerging technology by taking it to a mainstream audience.  Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014.  The headset Quest will be available in the spring of 2019. Facebook Goals Facebook leadership believes that VR is the next big thing in human communications after the mobile phone.  The company's goal is to get 1 billion people involved in VR.  Quest offers 6 degrees of freedom and Touch controllers.  It allow you to jump into action with no PC wires or external sensors. VR Future There are expert forecasts that VR headsets and devices will grow in sales by 31% for 2018 over 2017.  A number of heavyweights are investing in the field including Google, Sony and Apple.

Japan's Wearable VR Innovation Taclim VR Gloves & Shoes - Japanese Innovation  They're called the Taclim Virtual Reality shoes and gloves.  They're a global VR first.  They have haptic feedback to enable users to feel the virtual world.  As you can see in the photo, they work in tandem with the VR display. Tactile Devices Built-in tactile devices give the wearer instant haptic interaction.  The shoes and gloves generate the sensation of stepping onto the ground in a virtual space. Come September These products are relatively expensive - $1363 as posted in Japan Trends.  They'll be shipping in mid-September.  They're the creation of Cerevo in collaboration with Nidec Seimitsu Corporation.  This is fun and interesting VR tech I came across while researching Japanese innovation.

Trillion Dollar Industry By 2025, Augmented Reality technology will be a $trillion industry.  And it will impact a slew of economic sectors. Augmented reality is a view of the real world in which elements are augmented by computer generated sensory, like sound, graphics and video.  Here's the revenue forecast put together for Lumus, a maker of optical displays for AR, by nowsourcing.  The dollars reflect the amount of AR tech that will be sold for use in each industry in 2025. 2025 AR Revenue Forecast Video Games  $11.6 billion Health Care $5.1 billion Engineering $4.7 billion Live Events $4.1 billion Travel $4.1 billion Video Entertainment $3.2 billion Real Estate $2.6 billion Military $1.6 billion Retail - $1.6 billion The list goes on.  Augmented Reality is a disruptive technology that will change business as usual and generate tremendous revenues.  Clearly video games dominate the market.  But the tech is going way beyond that...

Swiss Scientists Use Virtual Reality to Help Amputees Feel Prosthetics as Part of their Body Scientists at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) combined virtual reality with artificial tactile sensation to help two amputees feel their prosthetic hand as part of their body.  They also demonstrated that the phantom limb actually grows into the prosthetic hand. Mind-Body-VR Connections The basis of this breakthrough approach is how the brain identifies what belongs to its own body.  Their breakthrough was combining two senses - sight and touch.  According to the lead scientist Giulio Rognini of EPFL:  "We showed exactly how vision and touch can be combined to trick the amputee's brain into feeling what it sees" thru VR. Portable Therapy This process is portable and could be turned into therapy to help patients embody their prosthetic limbs permanently.  It's a case of VR providing life enhancing feeling and experience.