The best thing to give first responders before they enter a smoky room or the site of a chemical spill, or to soldiers before they enter a hostile bunker, is a picture of what’s inside. Exploring an unsecured space in 3D from a safe distance could be a matter of life or death.
A team at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is helping to make that possible by funding efforts to combine powerful 3D imaging software, GPUs and pretty much any camera to generate a VR view of a potentially dangerous environment.
The intention of the system, dubbed Virtual Eye, is to let soldiers, firefighters and search and rescue personnel walk around a room or other enclosed area — virtually — before entering, enabling them to scope out the situation while avoiding potential dangers.
“The question for us is, can we do more with the information we have?” says Trung Tran, the program manager leading Virtual Eye’s development for DARPA’s Microsystems technology office. “Can we extract more information from the cameras we’re using today?”
The answer is a resounding yes. Even more impressive: any camera will suffice. Tran says the system is “camera agnostic.”
How Virtual Eye Works
Emergency responders who have determined that a room is too dangerous to enter without more information would insert drones or robots. These would wield or position two cameras in different parts of the room. The Virtual Eye software then fuses the separate images into a 3D virtual reality view in real time by extrapolating the data needed to fill in any blanks.
So, in a firefighting scenario, this could enable firefighters to look into a room, determine where a child in peril is located — perhaps behind a bed or other piece of furniture — see where flames are active, and plan their approach.
On the battlefield, soldiers could use Virtual Eye to detect if they might be ambushed, if an explosive is in a room or if a boobytrap awaits them.
“Understanding what we see is critical to making the right decisions in the battlefield,” says Tran. “We can create a 3D image by looking at the differences between two images, understanding the differences and fusing them together.”
A Real-Time 3D Video Experience
The Virtual Eye system under development relies on NIVIDIA mobile Quadro and GeForce GTX GPUs to stitch the images together, and to extrapolate 3D data from the images captured by the cameras. Tran says the NVIDIA GPUs were chosen because they’re small enough to fit into a laptop.
Learn more: DARPA Virtual Eye Lets Emergency Responders ‘See’ What They Can’t See
The Latest on: 3D virtual reality
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D virtual reality” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: 3D virtual reality
- MSNBC adds virtual extended reality courtroom for audio-only SCOTUS coverageon April 26, 2024 at 7:25 am
MSNBC has seemingly raised the stakes in how it covers audio-only court proceedings after CNN offered up elaborate video wall shots with key features to enhance its coverage during the February 2024 ...
- Friday 5: Virtual field tripson April 26, 2024 at 3:00 am
Virtual field trips can often help make tough concepts more engaging and easier to understand for students of all ages.
- Machine learning and extended reality used to train welderson April 25, 2024 at 10:30 am
Ever since the ancient Egyptians hammered two pieces of gold together until they fused, the art of welding has continuously progressed.
- Augmented reality creation platform Trace launches with $2Mon April 25, 2024 at 10:09 am
Trace, a location-based augmented reality creation platform, today announced its launch with $2 million in funds led by Rev1 Ventures and Impellent Ventures to make it simple for businesses to bring ...
- 19 "I'm Calling It Now" Predictions That Are Probably Closer To Reality Than You'd Thinkon April 25, 2024 at 6:16 am
8."I'm calling it now: In the near future, we'll see a rise in virtual reality dating experiences, complete with customizable avatars, and immersive virtual environments. Say goodbye to awkward first ...
- Meta opens its mixed-reality Horizon OS to other headset makerson April 24, 2024 at 12:13 pm
Lenovo and Asus are among the companies building headsets that run Horizon software. The move expands Meta’s reach in the AR/VR market, while enabling headset vendors to focus on hardware development ...
- Virtual Tour Market to Reach $17.88 billion, Globally, by 2035 at 27.9% CAGR: Allied Market Researchon April 24, 2024 at 12:51 am
Allied Market Research published a report, titled, " Virtual Tour Market by Type (360 Virtual Tour, 3D Virtual Tour, and Virtual Reality Tour) and Application (Tourism, Real Estate, Art Gallery and ...
- Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will offer its virtual reality OS to hardware companies, creating iPhone versus Android dynamicon April 22, 2024 at 11:16 am
The move will create new hardware devices that run the same operating system and software as Quest 3 and Quest Pro.
- Virtual reality, facial recognition. How AI is reshaping healthcare in South Floridaon April 20, 2024 at 9:05 am
AI is fueling healthcare innovation in South Florida.
- Alibaba’s Taobao launches 3D-capable shopping app ahead of Apple’s mainland release of Vision Pro mixed-reality headseton April 18, 2024 at 12:06 pm
The app marks the latest effort by Alibaba to improve users’ experience on its various online platforms via augmented and virtual reality technologies.
via Bing News