Peter's MVIS Blog: Laser Scanning

Showing posts with label Laser Scanning. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2019

3D Computing -- the big picture

Big picture: 3D computing is going to improve productivity -- so it's going to take over computing.

This is going to be bigger than the personal computer.

It's transforming shipbuilding --like a ship, such an industry isn't easy to turn. This isn't an improvement of a single aspect of the process, but a transformation of the process itself -- to "increase efficiency, safety and affordability."

Microvision is at the leading edge of laser scanning and AR displays.

When you're invested in something that improves efficiency, increases safety, and makes things more affordable, you shouldn't have too many worries.

SeaPowerMagazine

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division has been named a recipient of a 2019 CIO 100 Award for adopting business-aligned IT strategies during its integration of modern technologies into shipbuilding. The ongoing initiative, known as Integrated Digital Shipbuilding (iDS), is transforming the way ships are being designed and built.

The annual awards program, sponsored by IDG’s CIO magazine and the CIO Executive Council, celebrates organizations that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, optimize business processes, enable growth or improve relationships with customers.

Newport News is being recognized for its use of technology business management strategies to bolster IT cost transparency and build trust, which helped the company to embrace a digital-first mindset in adopting leading-edge technologies.

Since the company’s digital transformation began two years ago, Newport News has introduced laser scanning, augmented reality, modeling and simulation, and additive manufacturing into processes to increase efficiency, safety and affordability. The digital shipbuilding efforts also include transitioning from traditional two-dimensional paper-based instructions — the company’s primary method for conveying design data for more than a century — to digital formats. The company currently is developing digital work packages for the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN 80), which will be the first ship built completely paperless, and preparing to go digital with the new class of ballistic submarines, the Columbia class.

“Digital shipbuilding is the largest transformative initiative, digital or otherwise, that Newport News has embarked upon since switching from diesel to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the 1960s,” said Bharat Amin, Newport News’ vice president and chief information officer. “I feel proud of my team for helping to drive change and empowering shipbuilders with the tools to build today’s warships with tomorrow’s technology. It’s an exciting time to work in IT and at HII.”

The company will be recognized at the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony on Aug. 21 in Colorado.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Apple Laser Scanning Sensor

This has been on the radar for a while. It's interesting to me how this story has been fairly persistent, which gives it more credibility than some idle rumor.

Sony has some laser-scanning tech from MVIS.

I've never fully written SONY off, and expect that they will be back selling Microvision's tech, as soon as they figured a way to use it where they can't lose.

Bloomberg

Apple’s new system uses a laser scanner, rather than the existing dot-projection technology which doesn’t work as well over longer distances, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing unreleased features. That’s just one of many new features -- including a third, more advanced camera, enhanced photo-capture tools and a more powerful chip -- that Apple plans to include in coming generations of iPhones, the people said.

The laser-powered 3-D camera would enhance augmented reality on the iPhone, allowing for more accurate depth perception and placement of virtual objects. It could also help the handset take photos that can better capture depth, the people said. Apple has been in talks with Sony Corp.about testing sensors for the new system, one of the people said.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

VR used for training is saving lives and money.

It's been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks....

It looks like Hololens will get an announcement at MWC.

...and Hololens... Augmented reality is going to be much more useful than VR, will make training better, and improve human performance in obvious and measurable ways.

I think it will take people out of their phones and put them back with each other -- and make them better at doing actual things.

It will also have unintended negative consequences -- and positive outcome.

thx Joe.

(Things should be fairly calm around here for a couple of weeks.)

Fast forward to about 4:00 for good stuff about Hololens, but the whole video is worth your time.

Virtual reality training by companies like Microsoft is saving lives, millions of dollars, and ensuring the future of mixed reality from CNBC.

CNBC -- Use of AR & VR for industry and business

Now, VR is widely used to train employees at major companies like Walmart and Chevron. At Tyson Foods, VR safety training reduced injuries and illnesses by 20 percent.

It's also saving these companies millions of dollars, and bringing profits back to creators of VR headsets and software.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

UltraHaptics

This is a company that deserves to be on everyone's radar.

As Augmented Reality gets going, I'm quite sure that this is going to be everywhere. Gesture control is cool, but if you can make it feel like you're manipulating someTHING, that's way better -- the gestures will be more precise.

Microvision will be involved -- putting stuff in thin are requires knowing where things in thin air are. (After all, they need a display -- AND the 3D scanning -- and probably touch-projection too.)

TheMemo

In your car. In your kitchen. Ultrahaptics lets you feel objects that don't really exist.

Minority Report set our expectations high.

After watching it, we all figured that soon, just like Tom Cruise, we’d be waving our hands in mid-air to get shit done.

Now though, Ultrahaptics is making gesture control a reality: in your car, in your kitchen, everywhere.

“We’re better than Minority Report – you don’t have to wear gloves,” says co-founder Tom Carter.

**************

“Ultrahaptics lets you feel things in the air,” he explains. “We can make the sensations of buttons or switches, or enable you to feel 3D objects and sensations that don’t exist in the real world.”

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Ultrahaptics

That little buzz you feel in your phone when you touch it... and it wants to be clear that you know you've done something is "haptic" feedback.

Ultrahaptics, has come up with a way to make you feel stuff without touching it. (I'm really curious to try this.)

If true and pure gesture control is going to happen, I think this will be required-- otherwise it will be very difficult for software to figure out what all of our sloppy gestures mean.

This is a part of the whole ecosystem, and without this kind of feedback there will probably be an intermediate step to common gesture control (like the post yesterday.)

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

BENZINGA! -- Interested in Virtual Reality? Here are the purest plays

Nice article in BENZINGA about investing in Virtual Reality. (Of course, that's not all Microvision has going on, but this is the right kind of attention.)

Benzinga More at the source

Virtual reality and augmented reality are two of the fastest growing industries in the areas of electronic gaming, entertainment, medical services and military applications. Just look at the success of Nintendo Co., Ltd NTDOY's Pokémon Go.

Despite this, there are a few smaller companies where VR can bring a substantial amount of money to the bottom line.

Immersion Corporation IMMR is working on force feedback, the creation of the sense of touch to the user through the use of vibrations or motions. Immersion is one of the leaders in this technology, also known as kinesthetic communication and haptic technology. The stock has a nosebleed high trailing P/E earnings ratio of 901, but a more reasonable forward P/E of 26. The company is debt free and has $2.11 in cash per share.

Kopin Corporation KOPN develops, makes and markets virtual and augmented reality gaming, training, and simulation products. The company is currently generating negative earnings but is debt free with $1.42 in cash per share.

Microvision Inc. MVIS makes PicoP scanning technology for three-dimensional sensing and image capture. This company, like Kopin, also generates negative earnings, but is also debt free. It has 22 cents in cash per share. On the positive side, Microvision's quarterly revenues jumped 311% year over year.

These three stocks are all small caps, so they should be viewed relatively speculatively. But they could provide under the radar opportunities for investors interested looking to make VR and AR gains a reality.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

PCMAG - Top Ten Projectors of 2015

PCMAG

Celluon PicoPro listed first.

The Celluon PicoPro ($379.99) is one of the most portable projectors on the planet. It weighs just 7 ounces complete with batteries, and it's small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket. It lacks some features that are common for pico projectors, like the ability to show images stored in memory. However, it more than makes up for that by letting you easily project images from a cell phone or tablet, and it offers some neat tricks of its own, including eliminating the need to focus. Most important, it offers enough to make it our Editors' Choice pico projector.