Imaging company Avegant is introducing a breakthrough technology that could change how tech firms handle mixed reality. Its new Light Field Technology enables its users to interact with objects at close range, taking care of one of the significant limitations of current augmented reality technology.
Light Field Technology
Basically, Avegant's Light Field Technology is a fairly new platform in the field of mixed reality that allows users to view objects at multiple focal planes simultaneously. The resulting image makes it seem more realistic, as though the object in question is right at the user's fingertips.
Light Field Technology enables ultra-high quality images for both near and far objects and can be used for either commercial, industrial, or consumer use. It uses simple software to bring images to life and a hardware that is designed for quick product integration.
It works by mimicking the natural way that real-world objects emit light. Instead of presenting objects as a flat projection at a specific distance, Light Field Technology allows each object to be projected on its own focal plane. Hence, when an individual is using the headset and shifts his eyes to view another virtual object, his eyes would then refocus to the other object at its own light field.
Though Avegant still has not completely disclosed how exactly their new patented technology works, they are currently working to turn it into a commercially available device within the next 12 to 18 months.
Avegant cofounder and chief technical officer Edward Tang believes that the company's new development is the missing link to completely interactive and realistic mixed reality experiences. What's more, he states that the success of the mixed reality industry hinges on Light Field Technology.
Augmented Reality And The Turing Test
The Turing test was developed by Alan Turing to test a machine's ability for intelligent performance that cannot easily be differentiated from that of a human's. It is done with a human evaluator and two partners: a human and a machine that's programmed to make human-like responses. If, by the end of the test, the human evaluator is unable to distinguish between the human and the machine, the machine has passed the test.
The Turing test has since been widely criticized but has become one of the important foundations of artificial intelligence. In the case of augmented reality and other mixed reality technologies, they are trying to pass a "visual Turing test," which tests the seamless interaction between the real world and the virtual world.
The Light Field Technology's achievement takes AR one step closer to passing the test, something that could change the mixed reality industry. However, it is simply one of the challenges that need to be tackled for AR to pass the visual Turing test.
