Virtual Retinal Display

What is Virtual retinal display (VRD)?

VRD is an emerging display system technology that is worn on the head that propels an illustration directly on the retina using low-power lasers or LCDs. VRDs give the impression of seeing a normal computer screen floating in the air a few feet away. In theory VRDs can provide high quality images, but in real life some of parts needed for it to work flawlessly have not been develop enough. For a more detailed definition of VRD please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_retinal_display

A little history:

Although the idea for the technology is relatively old, it was invented by the University of Washington in 1991, VRDs only started being developed in 1993. Thomas Furness often receives credit for the invention. It is important to note that the technology is still being develop today. In addition, The University of Washington won the 1998 the Discover Magazine Technological Innovation Award for the inventing the VRD. For more information please visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/07/980721081522.htm

Why were VRDs invented?

"The small screens and narrow fields of view of mobile devices don't work well with the human vision system," Furness says. "When we first started talking about VRD, the idea was to create a system that requires very little power but can be connected to a PDA or cell phone to deliver a wide field of view with high brightness. For mobile computing applications where you want to overlay digital information on top of what you see, you need the luminance to compete with the outside world." (http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=247)