The image floating in the air becomes a touch screen! The first product in the world to expand reality

Photo: modern business

　Three-dimensional images and computer keyboards suddenly appear in the sky with nothing to do with it-a sight often seen in science fiction movies and recent animations. But at the end of the day, in fantasy... No, it's not like that. Something close to it is becoming a reality. The product name is "parity Mirror ®". [photo] "learning math becomes a business? "directly hit the mathematics startup of Dongda University, touch the floating image, the smartphone can operate, and you can also operate the Washlet ®in the toilet. We interviewed the developer of such a dreamy product, the representative of the odd-even innovation company Maegawa.

The first product in the world to display video in the air

The structure of parity Mirror ®

　First of all, please tell me that it can be implemented in parity Mirror ®. In a word, aerial images can be shown in real space. The feature is that there is no need to install special props such as glasses-type wearable terminals. Nowadays, AR and MR are very popular, but these devices such as smartphones and head-mounted displays are essential. Parity Mirror ®, on the other hand, allows viewers to watch aerial videos directly without equipment. What technology are you using? Parity Mirror ®is an imaging optical element, such as a lens and a concave mirror, which is a flat plate made of resin. On the surface of the resin board, thousands of mirrors are formed on the side walls of very fine blocks of 1 mm or less. By placing the object under the parity Mirror ®, the light is reflected twice as it passes through the block, thus imaging the real image in the air in a plane symmetrical position. Because this is a mirror image, it can also be said to be a mirror that keeps the statue floating in the air. This structure can be achieved through the use of the latest nanotechnology. If the image is reflected in a mirror twice, why do you see the image in the air? Make full use of the nature of the light of real image to show the image in the air. If there is a shining "spot", the light will spread from the "spot" to all directions. The human eye captures this vast amount of light, reverses the source of the light, and recognizes that there is a spot of light = something. Parity Mirror ®reproduces the state in which the light spots gather together in the air, that is, to image the real image. Just now, I told you that there are countless tiny mirrors arranged on the resin board, and the vertical two sides form an orthogonal mirror (dihedral corner reflector). The light shining on the two orthogonal mirrors is reflected twice. In this way, the light passing through the parity check mirror is all bent symmetrically, so the light is gathered in the symmetrical position to form a real image. Because the surface of an ordinary mirror reflects light, the actual light does not pass through the image in the mirror. It's called an illusion. In the case of "parity Mirror ®", the light is imaged through the surface, so the light actually passes through the area where it can be imaged, and the image appears after the screen is placed. This is called real image. As a result, the light diffused from the smartphone placed on the back of the parity mirror again converges to the other side for imaging, reproducing the light as if the phone was placed on the other side, so that the image appears in the air. Can everything be reflected in the air? Yes, it's basically just a mirror, so LCD monitors, smartphones, photos, physical objects, etc., everything on the back can be filmed in the air. In addition, combined with the sensor, it can also interact with the aerial image. Do you mean can you touch it? Yes, it's just an image, so there's no sense of touch. If you use sensors such as infrared and camera sensing, such as sensing fingers in the air, you can press the switch that reflects in the air. With a little effort, it is possible to rotate the reflected image in three dimensions, just like turning the globe. Being able to manipulate aerial images is like a science fiction movie. This is the most important feature of parity Mirror ®. AR, MR and others overlap the display of virtual objects in the real world on the screens of mobile phones and HMD devices, which seems to be expanding reality, but the actual reality has not changed. However, the techniques we have developed to reflect aerial images do exist visually and can also be touched. The technology that expands reality through computers is called "augmented reality", while "parity Mirror ®" is a "reality extension" technology that can expand reality itself.

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