Are you looking or a hyper-expensive alternative to Google Glass?
Canon has developed a "Mixed Reality" headset that will blend a virtual display with your surroundings.
Of course, this system is wildly expensive. The "Mixed Reality" system will cost you $125,000, and annual maintenance will run you $25,000.
The Canon MR system consists of a head-mounted display (HMD) and other optical and magnetic sensors. The HMD features two cameras, one in front of each eye on the front of the device, that captures what's in front of the user. The cameras beam those visuals to a computer connected to the HMD. It's this computer that combines the real-world video captured by the camera with the computer generated visuals. The combined images are then beamed back to two monitors in front of each eye in the HMD.
As ExtremeTech, who got to demo the new system, explained, the HMD unit works with a development platform (the MR Platform), for companies to create mixed reality visuals to display their products on the HMD. They described the virtual images the system conjured up as "vaguely similar in quality to something between a PS2 and a PS3, though not nearly as detailed," but also suffering from "visual flickering every now and then."
In a cheesy ("There is reality, and then there is mixed reality") promotional video for the new product, Canon suggests using the system for viewing product models before investing in creating a working, physical prototype. "Now you can take your new product apart before you ever put it together," the video below explained.
While the system is intriguing, Canon's presentation isn't particularly inspiring. The system looks robust, though, and getting the device in the hands of developers could yield awesome results and new ideas for using the system. The price certainly discourages this, though, which is a shame. We'd love to see some bold developers tinker with the Canon MR platform like they have with the Xbox Kinect in the past years.
