Professional divers often have to move through waters where they cannot see more than a few centimeters. But the depths are going to be much more affordable with the arrival of the Diver Augmented Vision Display (DAVD), a prototype created with a 3D printer.
It attaches to the Kirby Morgan diving helmet – widely used by military and civilian divers – and displays photos, videos, schematics, text messages and sonar data to guide the user in less visible situations.
This is possible thanks to augmented reality, a technology that adds digital information to what we are contemplating and allows us a broader vision of things.
DAVD is the result of the collaboration between the US Navy and the Israeli firm Lumus, and will serve in rescue missions, shipbuilding, archaeological explorations … It resembles glasses that are inserted into a plastic frame that fits inside of the helmet. Small projectors reflect images onto the lenses, which send them towards the eyes. The diver does not see the goggles, but what is projected on the lenses does.
DAVD is paired with a sonar that offers the diver constant information about his position and has among its most interesting functionalities the option of displaying text messages from the surface that will get the diver out of trouble in the event that communications are cut off. voice.
