Canon Working on Augmented Reality System
And now officially everyone is working on some variant of wearable computing or virtual reality. Canon, famous for their cameras, is developing a 'mixed reality' system that mixes together real life and digital images. In other words, it is augmented reality like what Google is planning, but much more aggressive.
The system will rely on visual markers to augment reality, rather than rely on accelerometers and other wonky tech. The markers, which will probably be a tech similar to QR codes, will be used to denote the locations of various 3D objects.
Canon said that one of the distinguishing features of their tech over their competitor's is that you will be able to easily walk around artificial 3D objects.
The tech will use two small displays mounted above the eyes. Optics will focus the image onto the retina, keeping the virtual world synced with the real.
Canon expects the product to go on sale in Japan early next year, and it will work with Windows 7 and even XP. Canon isn't targeting consumers at first, instead opting for the manufacturing industry, for which style won't matter as much. The ability to throw up 3D models into real space could be a godsend for companies that deal with larger products, for example letting a designer see what a car or an architect see what a building looks like really.
But the hardware is far too bulky and ugly for consumers, so I can't imagine this generation of products will ever make the leap.
Canon will be demoing the system at the 3D and Virtual Reality Expo in Tokyo later this week, if you happen to live on the island.
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