Is this a crazy idea?

[PhishSchticks]

I have been perusing the many posts dedicated to the mounting options of dive computers....console or wrist?

It occured to me that another option would naturally be a heads-up display integrated into the mask.

Heads-up displays have been available for Corvettes and other GM automobiles for some time now.

It seems only a matter of time until the technology is cost effective enough to be put into such a narrow market as scuba diving.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Sure would hate to loose a mask like that. I don't think I could read anything that close to my face anyway. Sound like a neat idea but I don't see why I would need such a thing.

 

[WJL]

You could never implement a heads up display in your mask, because the mask surface is too close to your eyes to focus on.

But, how about a holgram projection out in front of you somewhere, a la the communicators used in Star Wars. R&D costs couldn't be more than a few hundred million. Of course there could be some reliability issues taking the device into a high pressure (salt) water environment.

 

[norcaldiver]

The navy already has a HUD. Hydro Optics masks claim to have one in the works (a bolt on attachment I think).

 

[LVX]

There is a mention here for what it is worth.

http://www.scubadiving.com/gear/geartoday/

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I believe that Kirby-Morgan makes a helmet that has a HUD available as an option. However, I've never seen it.

My biggest concern would be failure modes.

 

[roakey]

Cochran has a HUD mask/computer that's "almost in production." At least that's what they've been telling DEMA goers for years...

I think they first showed it (and claimed that it "was just about ready to go into production") when surface suppled air was still being pumped by leather bellows.

Roak

 

[SpyderTek]

WJL once bubbled...
You could never implement a heads up display in your mask, because the mask surface is too close to your eyes to focus on.

How close the projected screen is to your eye is not relevant to your ability to focus on it with regard to properly designed HUD systems.

They have computer monitor eye glasses and monocles already. It is done by projecting a sort of holographic view that causes the image to appear to 12"-16" in front of you.

What I would like to see in a mask in one that doesnt use clear surface. Instead works like a pair of VR goggles. Instead of projecting a computer generated image on the "screen" it would be hooked to a digital camera(s) mounted to the front that you would be able to zoom / wide angle / Light Amplify / IR what have you. Simular to the Light Amplification goggles used by the military. Could also have small Flash chip so it can store a "snapshot" of whatever images you are looking at (just like normal digital cameras).

Spydertek

 

[roakey]

SpyderTek once bubbled...
What I would like to see in a mask in one that doesnt use clear surface. Instead works like a pair of VR goggles. Instead of projecting a computer generated image on the "screen" it would be hooked to a digital camera(s) mounted to the front that you would be able to zoom / wide angle / Light Amplify / IR what have you. Simular to the Light Amplification goggles used by the military. Could also have small Flash chip so it can store a "snapshot" of whatever images you are looking at (just like normal digital cameras).

It already exists. It's called an "ROV."

Roak

 

[wb416]

roakey once bubbled...

It already exists. It's called an "ROV."

Roak