Konica Minolta Reveals Holographic Optical Element

[CEATEC 2014] It goes without saying that wearable technology is a growing and some say, booming business. It seems that wearable smart glasses do look as though they are all the rage these days, and will continue to be so in the near and immediate future. Konica Minolta has decided to jump on board with their latest Holographic Optical Element, or HOE for short. When I tried it out, it was comfortable enough to wear, although whatever that was projected on the display would block out whatever is in front of me, which means it is rather distracting for someone of my personality, that I would not recommend wearing this while walking or driving around.

In the tech demonstration, while seeing a scene of a bus passing by, the HOE subsequently revealed the bus’ timetable so that I would know how frequent is that particular bus, as well as the various stops – or at least as much information that will be furnished by the bus company, of course. When a model of a car was pushed across the HOE, it showed the schematics as well as some basic specifications of the said vehicle. Granted, there is quite a noticeable lag simply because this happens to be a prototype, but the potential is there. The HOE can be clipped or integrated onto various frame sizes, making it a viable option for some augmented reality goodness.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: CEATEC, ceatec 2014, konica, Wearable Tech