The image floating in the air becomes a touch panel!The world's first product that expands reality (modern business) --Yahoo! News

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Suddenly, a three-dimensional image or a computer keyboard suddenly appears in the air where nothing is happening, and you operate it. It's a scene that you often see in science fiction movies and near-future animation. But that's just a story in fantasy ... No, that's not the case. It is becoming a reality to be close to that. The product name is "Parity Mirror ®". [Photo] "Are you going to study mathematics and become a business?" Directly hit a venture company from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tokyo When you touch the image floating in the air, you can operate your smartphone or operate the Washlet® toilet. And. We talked to Parity Innovations Co., Ltd. Maekawa, the developer of such a dream-like product.

The world's first product that projects images in the air

How Parity Mirror® Works

――First of all, please tell us what you can achieve with “Parity Mirror®”. In a word, you can project an aerial image in real space. The feature is that you don't need to wear special tools such as glasses-type wearable terminals. AR and MR are all the rage now, but devices like smartphones and head-mounted displays are essential. On the other hand, with "Parity Mirror ®", the observer can directly see the aerial image without a device. ――What kind of technology are you using? "Parity Mirror ®" is a type of imaging optical element such as a lens or concave mirror, and is a flat plate made of resin. The surface of the resin plate is lined with hundreds of thousands of mirrors formed on the side walls of very fine blocks of 1 mm or less. By placing an object under the "Parity Mirror ®", the light beam is reflected twice when passing through the block, and a real image is formed in the air at a plane-symmetrical position. Since this is a mirror image, it can be said to be a mirror that makes the image appear in the air. This structure could be realized by making full use of the latest nanotechnology. ――Why can you see the image in the air if you reflect the image twice with a mirror? Taking advantage of the nature of light, which is a real image, we are showing images in the air. If there is a shining point "light spot", light rays spread in all directions from the "light spot". The human eye catches this spreading ray and traces the source of the ray in the opposite direction, recognizing that there is a light spot = there is a thing. "Parity Mirror ®" reproduces the state where these light spots are gathered in the air, that is, forms a real image. I mentioned earlier that innumerable fine mirrors are lined up on a resin plate, but these two vertical planes make up an orthogonal mirror (two-sided corner reflector), and the two orthogonal mirrors Reflects the light beam that hits it twice. By doing this, all the light rays that have passed through the parity mirror surface are bent in a plane-symmetrical manner, so that the light rays gather at the plane-symmetrical position and form a real image. In a typical mirror, light rays are reflected on the surface, so the actual light rays do not pass through the image formed in the mirror. This is called a virtual image. In the case of "Parity Mirror ®", since the light rays pass through the surface and form an image, the light rays actually pass through the place where the image is formed, and the image is reflected when the screen is placed. This is called a real image. Therefore, the light rays diffused from something like a smartphone placed on the back of the parity mirror are focused again on the opposite side and imaged, and the light rays as if the smartphone is placed on the opposite side are reproduced. By doing so, the image is made to appear in the air. ――Can anything be projected in the air? Well, it's basically just a mirror, so you can make an aerial image of anything placed on the back, such as a liquid crystal display, smartphone, photo, or the real thing. Furthermore, by combining it with a sensor, it is possible to interact with aerial images. ――Do you mean that you can touch it? Yes, it's just a video, so it doesn't feel like it. If you use sensors such as infrared rays and camera detection, for example, you can sense a finger in the air and press the switch projected in the air. With a little ingenuity, it is possible to rotate the projected image three-dimensionally, just like spinning the globe. ――It's a science fiction movie that you can control aerial images. This is the biggest feature of "Parity Mirror ®". AR, MR, etc. seem to be augmented by overlaying the real world virtual objects displayed on the screen of devices such as smartphones and HMDs, but what is the actual reality? Has not changed. However, the method we have developed for projecting aerial images really exists visually and can be touched. The technology that expands reality with a computer etc. is called "augmented reality", but "Parity Mirror ®" is a "reality expansion" technology that can expand the reality itself.

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