I Have Tested TDK’s Direct Retinal Projection System

TDK was exhibiting its newest Smart Glasses Equipped with a Full-color Laser Module throughout CEATEC 2023, and I had a possibility to check it at their sales space. The firm has been engaged on this expertise for a number of years, and issues are shifting alongside two axes.

First, it’s potential to have a head-mounted show expertise. Secondly, the identical expertise might be utilized in XR headsets. The expertise depends on projecting a picture instantly onto the retina as an alternative of onto a show floor the consumer is taking a look at.

This projection kind doesn’t require the consumer to concentrate on a close-by floor. The projected picture is obvious and sharp whether or not you have a look at one thing close to or far, which might be a bonus for AR purposes, the place info could be introduced in a heads-up show model. During the demo, some textual content was projected instantly onto my retina (720p decision), and it remained sharp as I checked out issues near me or far-off. At this level, that is essentially the most advantageous use of this expertise.

Next, there was a VR-style demo, which TDK describes because the “World’s first VR goggles with direct retinal rendering.” Each eye has a projector, and naturally, two pictures are rendered and projected on the retina. TDK developed this use case as a result of basic VR headset that depend on a show power your eyes to concentrate on the close-by show to see a pointy picture. This is inflicting some muscular-level eye pressure, however concurrently, the 3D picture that’s proven suggests a completely completely different focus level. That might additionally trigger cognitive pressure.

In the direct-to-retina projection, the eyes don’t must concentrate on a particular show floor, and the consumer is free to let the attention’s focus wander wherever the 3D picture suggests, which might remove one supply of VR illness.

There are different theoretical methods to repair the eye-focus pressure, comparable to utilizing lightfields. However, that approach vastly will increase the 3D-rendering load. TDK’s retina projection doesn’t induce such a problem. However, retina projection requires a really exact projection and may be much less forgiving when customers transfer their eyes away from the projector.

Filed in Gaming. Read extra about CEATEC, CEATEC 2023, Displays, Japan, Tdk and Virtual Reality (VR).