Ankita
Member • Nov 6, 2012
Car's Backseat Made Transparent Using Optical Camouflage Technology - Keio University
Often while taking a reverse, car drivers have a trouble looking what's behind to understand the car's position and where the obstacles lie. Providing an interesting solution to this problem, some researchers from Keio University have come up with a system that makes the backseat of a car look transparent. Wait, what? Yes, developed by Professor Masahiko Inami, this system employes what they call the 'Optical Camouflage' technology.  It lets the driver get rid of an indirect viewpoint and get the feel of seeing the things in their actual position by getting a sense of the depth.
#-Link-Snipped-#
The researchers have achieved this by projecting a video captured from a rear-end camera onto the backseat using a half mirror. This video is computer-processed to make things appear actual-sized and the screen is made up of a recursive reflector material that has a special characteristic of reflecting light back in the direction of incidence. Therefore, it is great for use in direct sunlight during the day. Once there is nothing stopping you, the researchers want to take it a step further by not keeping the limitation of one viewpoint, which is currently of the driver's. Therefore by increasing the number of viewpoints, they will now want try to make the car's interior completely transparent through 360 degrees, without a blind spot. We can only imagine how car driving would feel like then, if you just see the sterring and the gears.
Take a look at the following video put together by #-Link-Snipped-# -
#-Link-Snipped-#
The researchers have achieved this by projecting a video captured from a rear-end camera onto the backseat using a half mirror. This video is computer-processed to make things appear actual-sized and the screen is made up of a recursive reflector material that has a special characteristic of reflecting light back in the direction of incidence. Therefore, it is great for use in direct sunlight during the day. Once there is nothing stopping you, the researchers want to take it a step further by not keeping the limitation of one viewpoint, which is currently of the driver's. Therefore by increasing the number of viewpoints, they will now want try to make the car's interior completely transparent through 360 degrees, without a blind spot. We can only imagine how car driving would feel like then, if you just see the sterring and the gears.
Take a look at the following video put together by #-Link-Snipped-# -