20 May 2016 – Oh those CRAZY guys over at DARPA! Whenever I peruse the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research log I always find SOMETHING for a post.
DARPA researchers have a way for soldiers to know exactly what they are getting into before they go in. Known as VirtualEye, a soldier armed with a laptop or tablet can throw a couple of cameras into a building and get a three-dimensional view of what’s inside, moving around the space with a controller to see where the enemy might be hiding.
VirtualEye is an offshoot project from a DARPA program to create more efficient computer processors. In partnership with Nvidia, Tran found a perfect example of how efficient computing power small enough for a soldier to carry around can be a game changer on the battlefield
Using the VirtualEye view, a soldier can “walk” around a room and explore inside, looking under the couch, behind a column, or see what the inside of the door looks like. The two cameras work together to put together one cohesive virtual map. The program doesn’t require special cameras or other equipment. They are “camera agnostic” and can use just about any type.
DARPA expects them to be in the field pretty quickly, within the next two to three years.