Augmented vision

So far I have implanted two chips (xEM and xNT) and am considering eventually getting a flex somewhere in my left hand. I'd love to do magnets when they become available or perhaps poke around and research on doing my own (I'd love to have one to the left of each finger tip on my left hand).

But for now im interested in a non-implantable project; augmented vision.

My goal is to try and add either infrared/ultra violet or thermal imaging to regular vision. My plan to accomplish this is to try and make a compact low latency camera to LCD setup in the form of an eyepatch. I'd like to try and get it to overlap with regular vision in the other eye to maintain binocular vision (depth perception and what have you) and try to get it to blend in a way that it becomes part of regular vision rather than a distraction from it. It'd be cool to add an AR style HUD interface once the basics are done.

I think some comparison to Google glass might come to mind but I feel my approach and goals are significantly different. I want this to enhance the way I see things.

My biggest road block so far seems to be finding a compact solution to near eye display. Google glass is a significant distance from the eye, LCD's seem bulky, low res, or inconveniently shapen. I'm gonna look into what optics are necessary for close to eye LCD adaptation as LCDs seem like the best bet but are too blurry up close. Something small and round like a smart watch LCD seems like a safe bet. I want it to take up all of one eyes vision and appear as seamless as possible. Some sort of lense would probably solve the blur issue.

I clearly need to do more research, but figured posting a topic might help point me in the right direction and get some ideas from people with more knowledge on the subject. I have the resources to get started once my research and planning are done. I have a 3d printer and decent EE equipment for prototyping.

I don't plan on making a "product" so much as I'm doing this for fun so I'll make any research/schematics/findings public and open source here.

Comments

  • Honestly, I have no way of helping you accomplish what you would like to do mechanically. Biologically I could see you using a mixture of NGF, stem cells, and genetic engineering to do this. Specifically, scientist have been able to make rods and cones in virto since 2004. Using this you could modify those cells with genes from the praying mantis shrimp which can sense infrared, UV, and some polarized light. then you could inject those new rods into your eyes and use NGF to coax your body into making more

  • I don't remember the names of them.. but we got to try out two different Augmented Reality systems at Grindfest and they were pretty aus. The thing is.. they were still really bulky compared to what you want to do.

  • Okay. I'm trying to focus on research and testing for part A: output.

    I'm thinking my best bet is a round LCD (like some smart watches use) adapted with an optical lense to shorten the focal viewpoint so it can rest as close to the eye as possible. I know that cheap vr headsets use optic lenses to make phone screens viewable closer, and that's kind of what I'm looking into. I ordered a cheap optic lenses set off Amazon to play around with to look at the plausibility and test the comfort of such a method. Im also looking into the science of custom lense making, and I think I might be able to carefully craft some using the properties of surface tension on LOCA glue using UV curing. I would make such lenses using a sub-millimeter template under a microscope with a 45° mirror to view the fluid surface size and curvature, applying/subtracting fluid with a clean and sterile pipett. I will need to do some research on lense properties and the formulas used to find focal range of a given lense based on it's dimensions.

    My ultimate goal here is to try and keep things compact.
    Then Later...

    Part B: input; cameras and computers. I'd like to try and make it modular, Perhaps a two part board, so that you can swap in different cameras; ie. Infrared, UV, night vision, ect.

    Open to help/criticism/comments/questions/and insults.

  • Got those lenses and some loca. Going to run experiments soon

  • If experimental loca lenses work, and I can get away with the light input side being planar, then I could carefully /in theory/ make a lense directly on the surface of the LCD and worry less about optic mounting structures in the design.

  • Im rooting for you
  • I think your biggest limiter on this won't be the headset piece, but the size needed for the camera. The smallest thermal imager I've seen is still 34 x 67 x 14mm, which may be a little awkward, even if you pop it apart and change up the layout. While a image intensifier (your run of the mill military night vision gear) requires a certain amount of offset to function, as you can see in this diagram. You can get some extremely small ones, but you lose resolution as you do. And the smallest I've seen still require about an inch of depth for the image enhancement to work.

  • I think for the augmented vision, the best option is probably following in the footsteps of that study earlier this year that gave mice infrared vision by injecting nanoparticles into their eyes as it looks quite promising. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-019-0423-5

    Problem there though is understanding their methodology and then replicating it. I have very little experience with nanoparticles and nanoscience is not my field of expertise so I'm not sure how feasibly one could actually replicate it but other people on here may know more.

  • edited December 2019
    So anything new?
    @Radon86

    I'm reviving this topic.
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