AR goggles restore depth perception to people blind in one eye
January 21, 2013
People who’ve lost sight in one eye can still see with the other, but they lack binocular depth perception.
A pair of augmented reality glasses being built at the University of Yamanashi in Japan artificially introduces a feeling of depth in a person’s healthy eye, MIT Technology Review reports.
The researchers created software that makes use of the twin cameras in a Vuzix Wrap 920AR. When a person puts the glasses on, each camera scopes out the scene that each eye would see. The images are funneled into software on a computer, which combines the perspective of both cameras and creates a “defocus” effect (some objects stay in focus while others stay out of focus), resulting in a feeling of depth. That version of the scene in front of them is projected to the single healthy eye of the wearer.