Fulfill your superhero dreams as Microsoft Hololens 2 lets you see through walls
Wanting to give people an “x-ray vision,” the Massachusetts Institute of Technology installed a program in a Microsoft Hololens 2. Now that’s some superhero kind of shit.
This upgrade of MIT allows wearers to see objects with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags obstructed by solid objects. In turn, the technology could expand the real-life applications of augmented reality or AR. Just think of how it could help retailers locate warehouse goods quickly.
The researchers of the famed MIT named their technology X-AR. It uses wireless signals and computer vision to let people see things invisible to the naked eye. It combines “high-tech antennas, wireless signal processing algorithms, and AI-based fusion of different sensors.“
Radio Frequency (RF) sensing features are provided to the Microsoft Hololens 2 by the AR-conformal wide-band antenna. The accessory is lightweight, flexible, and fits on existing headsets without blocking the camera or the user’s view.
The AR-Based SAR localization algorithm combines visual sensing from the headset’s camera and RF sensing from the antenna. Subsequently, you could detect RF-tagged objects as you walk naturally.
In addition, RF-Visual Verification merges RF and human visions. This will deliver actionable tasks such as picking verification.
The MIT researchers claim X-AR achieves 95% accuracy in picking verification. Furthermore, it can locate items measuring less than a foot or 9.8 cm.
MIT shared a demo video of the technology. It showed how a warehouse worker could use it wherein the Microsoft Hololens 2 helps them locate a specific shirt among piles of boxes.
MIT created an augmented reality headset that enables users to see hidden objects. pic.twitter.com/KUME6QdpnD
— AI Breakfast (@AiBreakfast) March 7, 2023
Retail, warehousing, manufacturing, and e-commerce will benefit from Microsoft Hololens 2 enabled by X-AR.
The woman wearing the AR goggles tapped in the air to interact with a menu. She received a notification to find the clothing. Thereafter, she chose the Finding Object option.
After that, the Hololens highlight the shirt’s location in the lady’s view to show where it is. Soon enough, she locates the object and changes her status to Object found.
Just imagine how that could become useful for businesses that need to immediately find delivery items in their wide inventories.
