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Augmented Reality

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Doctors use virtual reality imaging to treat blocked coronary artery. WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Doctors in Poland used a virtual reality system combining a custom mobile application and Google Glass to clear a blocked coronary artery, one of the first uses of the technology to assist with surgery. The imaging system was used with a patient who had chronic total occlusion, a complete blockage of the artery, which doctors said is difficult to clear using standard catheter-based percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI. The system provides three-dimensional reconstructions of the artery and includes a hands-free voice recognition system allowing for zoom and changes of the images. The head-mounted display system allows doctors to capture images and video while also interacting with the environment around them.

In patients with chronic total occlusion, the standard procedure is not always successful, at least partially because of difficulty visualizing the blockage with conventional coronary tomography angiography, or CTA, imaging. Related UPI Stories. I Played Minecraft With Microsoft's HoloLens, And It Was Pretty Awesome.

Meta grabs $23M to keep riding the wave of augmented reality excitement (thanks, Microsoft) | VentureBeat | Deals | by Kia Kokalitcheva. Last week, Microsoft got us all excited about, well, Microsoft (again), with the announcement of HoloLens, its upcoming augmented reality headset. Now Meta has raised $23 million in new funding for a similar technology. Meta’s headset is like a pair of big sunglasses equipped with sensors and projectors. While wearing it, a “pioneer” (what Meta calls its beta users) sees a virtually constructed world and can interact with elements in it.

For a great overview of this, check out VentureBeat’s take on Microsoft’s HoloLens headset we tested last week, which takes a very similar approach to augmented reality. By contrast, some companies like Oculus Rift are building virtual (not augmented) reality headsets, which immerse a person into a fully virtual world. In 2013, Meta raised just under $200,000 in crowdfunding on Kickstarter for its first version, the Meta 1 Developer Kit.

Meta was founded 2012 by Raymond Lo, Ben Sand, and Meron Gribetz, and is based in Portola Valley, California. Windows Holographic. A depiction of a Microsoft HoloLens user navigating Windows Holographic, with an application window on the left, and the Holographic Start menu on the right. Microsoft announced Windows Holographic at its "Windows 10: The Next Chapter" press event on January 21, 2015.[7] It is set to be introduced as part of the general rollout of Windows 10, and showcased in the smart glasses headset Microsoft HoloLens. The Windows 10 launch begins in summer 2015 with release of the PC version, with HoloLens to be released sometime after.[8] Microsoft HoloLens[edit] The premier device for Windows Holographic,[1] Microsoft HoloLens is a smart glasses unit that is a cordless, self-contained Windows 10 computer.

Microsoft expects HoloLens to be made available "in the Windows 10 timeframe" and priced for use in both the enterprise and consumer markets.[7] An unnamed Microsoft executive said that HoloLens would cost significantly more than a game console.[12] Design[edit] Technology[edit] Applications[edit] Nightmare Video Game Turns Your House Into A Horror Movie—NOPE NOPE NOPE. How Magic Leap Is Secretly Creating a New Alternate Reality. From Microsoft, a Rig That Turns Your Whole Living Room Into a Videogame.

An AR version of Whack-a-mole. Microsoft Research The promise of virtual reality is being able to leave the ordinary behind and travel to fantastic new worlds. Some researchers at Microsoft are taking the opposite approach: They want to bring the fantasy to your living room. The new project, RoomAlive, uses projectors and Kinect cameras to turn your den into an interactive gaming environment. Your floor becomes staging grounds for robot battle. Your walls get adorned with booby traps. Whack-a-mole means giant mutant moles actually burrowing into your house. The project builds on a previous Microsoft effort called IllumiRoom, which used projection mapping to let games seep out beyond TV sets onto the walls behind them.

The RoomAlive rig took four months to create. The most challenging aspect of RoomAlive, however, was figuring out how to design for it. The system separates out vertical surfaces from horizontal ones and projects game elements accordingly. MTBS-TV: Interview With Meta at CES 2014. Meta Pro Augmented Reality Glasses | CES 2014. Open Glass Overlays Digital Information on the Real World With Google Glass. Google Glass is augmented reality—and then again, it isn’t. True augmented reality would take in your view and attach applicable information to any object you see, maybe the name of the person you’re currently talking to and a few key points from their Facebook bio. Or the prices of the pastries you’re perusing at the local café. Think Terminator or Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. As you might expect, augmented reality is a tough nut to crack. It requires a rich database of location specific information and software trained to recognize scenes from images or streaming video and capable of sending that information back to the user—all this so fast the user notices minimal lag.

While Google Glass doesn’t come stock with augmented reality, Brandyn White and Andrew Miller’s Open Glass have a rudimentary prototype. Now, a casual user happens upon the same scene and is curious about what’s in front of him. The Open Glass approach is clearly still in the early stages. Trying out Meta's augmented reality glasses. GravitySketch Tablet Is a Portable 3D Augmented Reality Sketchpad For Designers. There’s an imposing wall dividing real world creation and digital design. To transfer a paper design to a computer, you need training and experience in technically demanding computer assisted design (CAD) programs. Instead, imagine if we could mold digital designs in three dimensions as easily as we mold clay. Intuitive, powerful, and immersive interfaces would open the field to more people and inject more serendipity and improvisation into digital design. We may be entering a new era of computer interfaces where standard two-dimensional screen, keyboard, and mouse are enhanced by more instinctive 3D modes of interaction—modes that more closely mimic real world design methods.

In sci-fi, 3D interfaces tend to be holographic. Increasingly, instead of holograms, 3D interfaces are powered by a suite of devices working in tandem to produce the illusion of depth in augmented reality. Take the recently developed GravitySketch tablet. How does Gravity Sketch work? Image Credit: Gravity.

The Augmented Reality TARDIS: It's bigger on the inside.