Sky rocket race league – 3D raceway in the sky!!!

Rocket Racing League is unconventional new sport, where highly trained pilots fly rocket powered aircraft through a 3D virtual Raceway-In-The-Sky (RITS). Think of Formula One race in the sky with a slight difference of using a rocket powered aircraft!!! Star Wars here we come!!!

RRL will feature multiple types of rocket races: drag-style racing, closed circuit, head-to-head races of 2-10 participants. The pilots will race by using an RRL-developed Raceway-In-The-Sky (RITS) – a custom Cockpit-based Augmented Reality System projected onto 3D helmet displays. In addition, fans will be able to see the racing live on screens, televisions and PCs enabling a unique experience, giving fans the sensation feeling of participating in the race alongside the well known pilots.

The integrated display helmet provides an essential link between the pilot, aircraft and audience. It enables RRL pilots to receive mission and race critical flight information directly onto their helmet visor within their natural line-of-sight therefore increasing safety and performance. The display shows raceway geometry, altitude, speed, gravitational pull and other parameters directly in front of the aviator’s eyes on a crisp off-the-visor display that adjusts in real time.

This amazing  new  exciting way to race is brought by using the  revolutionary Targo Racer aviator’s helmet developed by Israel's Elbit Systems (NASDAQ: ESLT). This helmet integrates a display system and avionics, that enable Rocket Racing League (RRL) pilots to competitively challenge each other flying the 3D Raceway-In-The-Sky (RITS) sky track.

Targo™ Racer, a variant of the Targo™ family by Elbit systems, is powered by "Helmet Mounted Avionics" (HMA) technology that allows fast and flexible adaptation for unique customer platforms and requirements. The helmet was adapted to the racing environment with the support of RRL's avionics partner, the University Research Foundation (URF) Maryland Advanced Development Laboratory (MADL).

So how farfetched is this idea ???

Well, Rocket Racing League already here :)  http://www.rocketracingleague.com/

The launch was in 2010 at QuikTrip Air & Rocket Racing Show, April 24 in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Official team recruitment began in 2010 and nowadays Rocket Racing League continues its World Exhibition Tour.

Controversies about Google Glasses project

We had posted a video on Google Glasses earlier in the blog, that specializes in AR.It’s called Project Glass, and it’s a pair of glasses that layers digital information over the real world.The first look at it seems like an amazingly brilliant idea. Browsing over the net, we have seen mixed reactions from people. Some love the idea, others dismiss it or at least be skeptical about it. However, there are a few questions around the concept and the product as a whole. Are we ready to augment our reality?Do we really need it?
Is there any particular want that this kind of technology will cater to?

http://tinyurl.com/87svl7g

http://tinyurl.com/cquu5a5

 Codesign.com has an interesting article on their articule: " Four problems Google glasses has to solve before becoming a hit"

http://tinyurl.com/czh972l

They talk about how Google has always been a company that is smart but not pretty, primarily because they never had to be. Think about it, the Google glasses is the first physical product that they will be launching ever. Quoting from the article,
"Technology can be a symbol of your future-forwardness, or it can be the exact opposite: a sign of the future’s ridiculousness. The Segway flopped in part for its cost and in part for the fact that humanity isn’t quite that lazy, but there was a deeper, visceral reaction to the core of the product that signified a silly future rather than an inspiring one. So far, the actual glasses Google is showing off aren’t inspiring. To succeed, Google will need to sell us on either the stylishness, or the invisibility, of video glasses."

From our perspective, we think it is all a matter of time and the ability to solve a real need for people.


Lets hope these new glasses don't became the 15th item of the following list:

Taken from http://mashable.com/2011/09/29/tech-fails-infographic/

AR used in trainings and personal experiences

AR can be used to a great extent in making our lives better, independent and knowledgeable. ..Not only that, but it can be used in almost every industry in some way or the other, primarily by way of trainings.. Want to know how?? Read on..

What would you do if your car breaks down at 02:00 in the middle of nowhere? Or how many times did you have to take your car to the shop multiple times because they couldn't find the problem at the first time? I personally hate it. And being extra picky on this subject I remember taking my car three times to the mechanic for the same problem.Here an interesting video on Car mechanics by BMW. They did a concept piece on augmented reality where a mechanic is replacing a fan while wearing special glasses, which project the instructions onto the car as he looks at the engine compartment.

Using such glasses, I would myself not have to go through panic attacks when my car breaks down.I can maybe just put on these glasses, and get instructed on what needs to be done for me to get on the road again.

Biology and Chemistry teachers can avoid laboratory mishaps. Tedious subjects like literature, art and history (at least tedious for me!!) can become more interesting using visuals of AR. Classes wont be boring anymore and students won’t feel the need to bunk them.

Would you not like to have more information on what the doctors are doing with your body and health? I can think of when my aunt was in the hospital going through a series of surgeries in her brain, with every surgery leading to some or the other side effects (like she stopped hearing from one ear after one of her brain surgeries). We were unable to understand what was going on. With the help of AR, patients and their peers can better understand what goes on in the internal system, and thereby understand and ask the right questions to the doctors. Doctors themselves can use AR to enhance visualization, plan operations and train medical staff and students in various procedures, giving them a live experience but not on a real patient.

Areas of Military and Fire support deal with panic and terror attacks all the time. Augmented Reality helps them to create real life experiences and train on them. It would increase the probability of people surviving such situations, and may affect the lives of so many people and in many different ways.

However, the possibilities can be implemented only after some successful tests and price of the technology becoming more affordable.

What's next?

Well it hasn’t been easy. After millions of publications, thousands of computer games and hundreds of movies, we have life enhancers. Life enhancers… What the hell are life enhancers??

I call every piece of information which supplements the reality at the correct time, a life enhancer.  It’s the information you choose to have when you need it in the form of augmented reality without being bombarded. Let’s look at some of the life enhancers we currently use.

Hud – Heads Up Display

I thought it was the coolest thing when I first saw it on a fighter jet. I didn’t know that someone at the good old GM has been installing HUD’s to cars since 1988, the 1998 Corvette having the first colored HUD. They showed speed, rpm and fuel level. Great invention for the USA with the very strict speed limits. Later, other manufacturers followed GM with this technology. Now they’ve squeezed all this with navigation, lane departure warning and much more into an application for smartphones.

Golfscape

Anyone who tried a golf game would be familiar with these screen shots:

Standard screens showing information about the next hole look very informative and extremely cool to a golf player. Unfortunately I’m not. But technology didn’t skip on the golf players. Again an application for iPhone shows tons of information by only aiming the cellphone at the golf course.

More information on Golfscape

I guess you’ll all agree that we can find many more examples on the subject. As always the big question is: What is next? Should we watch more movies, play more games or listen to technology gurus? Well, I’m more interested in the companies’ vision that have the technology, commitment and resources to shape the future.

I believe that one day we’ll all see beyond. Almost every major technology company is working on life enhancers. What would you think about shades that contain the processing power of current computers with a HUD and voice recognition. Do you think I’m going too far or beyond posible? Have a look at this: