OFF THE WIRE
With the latest technological gadgets, travelling to any location with your car
is pretty easy. You can look up on your mobile’s GPS or the inbuilt navigation
system on your car to get directions to a particular place.
But what
about people who love having long trips on their bikes?
Now you would
say, they got their mobile phones for directions but we all know how hard it is
to operate a smartphone while riding a bike. So, the only option for the biker
is to take frequent breaks from his ride and look up on his mobile or a large
map for directions and other stuff.
But now, a group of Russian engineers
are looking to create a device which can potentially solve this problem. They
are trying to create a helmet with an heads up display like the ones found on a
F35 fighter jet helmet. Moreover the helmet would be voice controlled and hence
will have inbuilt microphones and headphones.
Some of the features of the
proposed device are as follows:
augmented reality for easy and
user-friendly navigation
clearly visible collimated image i.e. it is always
in focus, just like that in scope sights
full-color, translucent picture is
projected right on the visor like in a F-35 fighter helmet, it’s safe, provides
unobstructed view, doesn’t distract attention and eliminates the need for a
separate display
supposed size of the system fits a motorcycle helmet – our
helmet is going to be just a bit bigger than usual
two 3000 mAh batteries for
a long operation time
microphone for voice control that keeps both hands
free for driving
two earphones
light sensor for adjusting the image
brightness according to external light conditions
G-sensor, gyroscope,
digital compass for head movement tracking (the picture changes according to the
view direction
The user interface is going to be simple and minimalistic
so that the riders can easily control various functions with voice
commands.
Unfortunately, as the interface is going to be simple, you
can’t watch movies or play games using the device. But given that it is a helmet
for riding a bike, you would be better off without such distractions.
The
device is still in its initial developmental stages and the team promises more
features as the funding reaches a given target.
http://thedroidguy.com/2013/06/russian-engineers-working-on-a-helmet-mounted-display-for-bikers/#ZVBHyjEyvevgIIA7.99