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Category: augmented reality

Modern brain–computer interfaces (BCI), utilizing electroencephalograms for bidirectional human–machine communication, face significant limitations from movement-vulnerable rigid sensors, inconsistent skin–electrode impedance, and bulky electronics, diminishing the system’s continuous use and portability. Here, we introduce motion artifact–controlled micro–brain sensors between hair strands, enabling ultralow impedance density on skin contact for long-term usable, persistent BCI with augmented reality (AR). An array of low-profile microstructured electrodes with a highly conductive polymer is seamlessly inserted into the space between hair follicles, offering high-fidelity neural signal capture for up to 12 h while maintaining the lowest contact impedance density (0.03 kΩ·cm−2) among reported articles. Implemented wireless BCI, detecting steady-state visually evoked potentials, offers 96.4% accuracy in signal classification with a train-free algorithm even during the subject’s excessive motions, including standing, walking, and running. A demonstration captures this system’s capability, showing AR-based video calling with hands-free controls using brain signals, transforming digital communication. Collectively, this research highlights the pivotal role of integrated sensors and flexible electronics technology in advancing BCI’s applications for interactive digital environments.

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Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have developed a microscopic brain sensor which is so tiny that it can be placed in the small gap between your hair follicles on the scalp, slightly under the skin. The sensor is discreet enough not to be noticed and minuscule enough to be worn comfortably all day.

Brain sensors offer high-fidelity signals, allowing your brain to communicate directly with devices like computers, augmented reality (AR) glasses, or robotic limbs. This is part of what’s known as a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI).

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A new approach to streaming technology may significantly improve how users experience virtual reality and augmented reality environments, according to a study from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

The research—presented in a paper at the 16th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference (ACM MMSys 2025) on April 1, 2025—describes a method for directly predicting visible content in immersive 3D environments, potentially reducing bandwidth requirements by up to 7-fold while maintaining visual quality.

The technology is being applied in an ongoing NYU Tandon project to bring point cloud video to dance education, making 3D dance instruction streamable on standard devices with lower bandwidth requirements.

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Without the ability to control infrared light waves, autonomous vehicles wouldn’t be able to quickly map their environment and keep “eyes” on the cars and pedestrians around them; augmented reality couldn’t display realistic 3D displays; doctors would lose an important tool for early cancer detection. Dynamic light control allows for upgrades to many existing systems, but complexities associated with fabricating programmable thermal devices hinder availability.

A new active metasurface, the electrically-programmable graphene field effect transistor (Gr-FET), from the labs of Sheng Shen and Xu Zhang in Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering, enables the control of mid-infrared states across a wide range of wavelengths, directions, and polarizations. This enhanced control enables advancements in applications ranging from infrared camouflage to personalized health monitoring.

“For the first time, our active metasurface devices exhibited the monolithic integration of the rapidly modulated temperature, addressable pixelated imaging, and resonant infrared spectrum,” said Xiu Liu, postdoctoral associate in mechanical engineering and lead author of the paper published in Nature Communications. “This breakthrough will be of great interest to a wide range of infrared photonics, , biophysics, and thermal engineering audiences.”

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For over a century, galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) has been used as a way to stimulate the inner ear nerves by passing a small amount of current.

We use GVS in a two player escape the room style VR game set in a dark virtual world. The VR player is remote controlled like a robot by a non-VR player with GVS to alter the VR player’s walking trajectory. We also use GVS to induce the physical sensations of virtual motion and mitigate motion sickness in VR.

Brain hacking has been a futurist fascination for decades. Turns out, we may be able to make it a reality as research explores the impact of GVS on everything from tactile sensation to memory.

Misha graduated in June 2018 from the MIT Media Lab where she worked in the Fluid Interfaces group with Prof Pattie Maes. Misha works in the area of human-computer interaction (HCI), specifically related to virtual, augmented and mixed reality. The goal of her work is to create systems that use the entire body for input and output and automatically adapt to each user’s unique state and context. Misha calls her concept perceptual engineering, i.e., immersive systems that alter the user’s perception (or more specifically the input signals to their perception) and influence or manipulate it in subtle ways. For example, they modify a user’s sense of balance or orientation, manipulate their visual attention and more, all without the user’s explicit awareness, and in order to assist or guide their interactive experience in an effortless way.

The systems Misha builds use the entire body for input and output, i.e., they can use movement, like walking, or a physiological signal, like breathing as input, and can output signals that actuate the user’s vestibular system with electrical pulses, causing the individual to move or turn involuntarily. HCI up to now has relied upon deliberate, intentional usage, both for input (e.g., touch, voice, typing) and for output (interpreting what the system tells you, shows you, etc.). In contrast, Misha develops techniques and build systems that do not require this deliberate, intentional user interface but are able to use the body as the interface for more implicit and natural interactions.

Misha’s perceptual engineering approach has been shown to increase the user’s sense of presence in VR/MR, provide novel ways to communicate between the user and the digital system using proprioception and other sensory modalities, and serve as a platform to question the boundaries of our sense of agency and trust.

Continue reading “How to Remote Control a Human Being | Misha Sra | TEDxBeaconStreetSalon” | >

An international team of scientists developed augmented reality glasses with technology to receive images beamed from a projector, to resolve some of the existing limitations of such glasses, such as their weight and bulk. The team’s research is being presented at the IEEE VR conference in Saint-Malo, France, in March 2025.

Augmented reality (AR) technology, which overlays and virtual objects on an image of the real world viewed through a device’s viewfinder or , has gained traction in recent years with popular gaming apps like Pokémon Go, and real-world applications in areas including education, manufacturing, retail and health care. But the adoption of wearable AR devices has lagged over time due to their heft associated with batteries and electronic components.

AR glasses, in particular, have the potential to transform a user’s physical environment by integrating virtual elements. Despite many advances in hardware technology over the years, AR glasses remain heavy and awkward and still lack adequate computational power, battery life and brightness for optimal user experience.

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Meta has unveiled the next iteration of its sensor-packed research eyewear, the Aria Gen 2. This latest model follows the initial version introduced in 2020. The original glasses came equipped with a variety of sensors but lacked a display, and were not designed as either a prototype or a consumer product. Instead, they were exclusively meant for research to explore the types of data that future augmented reality (AR) glasses would need to gather from their surroundings to provide valuable functionality.

In their Project Aria initiative, Meta explored collecting egocentric data—information from the viewpoint of the user—to help train artificial intelligence systems. These systems could eventually comprehend the user’s environment and offer contextually appropriate support in daily activities. Notably, like its predecessor, the newly announced Aria Gen 2 does not feature a display.

Meta has highlighted several advancements in Aria Gen 2 compared to the first generation:

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A research team led by Professor Takayuki Hoshino of Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering in Japan has demonstrated the world’s smallest shooting game by manipulating nanoparticles in real time, resulting in a game that is played with particles approximately 1 billionth of a meter in size.

This research is a significant step toward developing a computer interface system that seamlessly integrates virtual objects with real nanomaterials. They published their study in the Japanese Journal of Applied Physics.

The game demonstrates what the researchers call “nano-mixed reality (MR),” which integrates digital technology with the physical nanoworld in real time using high-speed electron beams. These beams generate dynamic patterns of electric fields and on a display surface, allowing researchers to control the force field acting on the nanoparticles in real time to move and manipulate them.

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February 2025 features Comet CK-25, observed with AI-driven telescopic networks for real-time imaging and analysis. A spectacular planetary alignment of Mercury, Venus, and Mars will be enhanced by augmented reality devices for interactive viewing. A partial lunar eclipse will occur on February 27th-28th, with an immersive experience via the Virtual Lunar Observation Platform (VLOP). Technological advancements highlight new methods of observing and interacting with space events, bridging Earth and the cosmos. February 2025 is set to mesmerize stargazers and tech enthusiasts alike, as the cosmos aligns with cutting-edge advancements in astronomical observation. This month isn’t just about celestial spectacles; it’s about witnessing how new technology is redefining our view of space from Earth.

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Antennas receive and transmit electromagnetic waves, delivering information to our radios, televisions, cellphones and more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis imagines a future where antennas reshape even more applications.

Their new metasurfaces, ultra-thin materials made of tiny nanoantennas that can both amplify and control light in very precise ways, could replace conventional refractive surfaces from eyeglasses to smartphone lenses and improve dynamic applications such as augmented reality/ and LiDAR ( and ranging).

While metasurfaces can manipulate light very precisely and efficiently, enabling powerful optical devices, they often suffer from a major limitation: Metasurfaces are highly sensitive to the , meaning they can only interact with light that is oriented and traveling in a certain direction. While this is useful in polarized sunglasses that block glare and in other communications and imaging technologies, requiring a specific polarization dramatically reduces the flexibility and applicability of metasurfaces.

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