F1 - augmented reality visors?
Discussion
Does anyone know if in F1 any of the teams use augmented reality visors? If not I'm wondering why not? I would have thought this would be pretty useful as a driver because you could put all kinds of things up there (KERS, lap deltas, etc) Something along the lines of what BAE Systems' Striker HMSS helmet does (but not as advanced).
Funny enough, in my first degree I did my dissertation on alternative interfaces for Formula 1.
The tech has probably moved on a bit as it was 5 or 6 years ago, but back then there were plenty of papers citing problems like vertigo and difficulty focusing with augmented reality or heads up systems when there's a significant amount of background involved (for example on the ground on the race track versus picking up a plane in blue sky) unless the system is very responsive and well set up.
Also, if I remember rightly, having additional alerts as audio signals rather than visual is better as your brain can cognitively process them separately better than dealing with different visual inputs, i.e. you move your eyes less but you've still got essentially the same bottleneck which is the speed at which your brain can process it.
Realistically with reliable pit radio and transmitted telemetry the team give the driver all the supplementary info he needs and all the system needs to do is to make it easy for the driver to pick gearshifts (presumably fine using pheripheral vision and bright shift lights) and perhaps look at lap times and splits occasionally (EDIT plus making system setting changes dictated by the team). Augmented reality is expensive and can cause more problems than it solves.
The tech has probably moved on a bit as it was 5 or 6 years ago, but back then there were plenty of papers citing problems like vertigo and difficulty focusing with augmented reality or heads up systems when there's a significant amount of background involved (for example on the ground on the race track versus picking up a plane in blue sky) unless the system is very responsive and well set up.
Also, if I remember rightly, having additional alerts as audio signals rather than visual is better as your brain can cognitively process them separately better than dealing with different visual inputs, i.e. you move your eyes less but you've still got essentially the same bottleneck which is the speed at which your brain can process it.
Realistically with reliable pit radio and transmitted telemetry the team give the driver all the supplementary info he needs and all the system needs to do is to make it easy for the driver to pick gearshifts (presumably fine using pheripheral vision and bright shift lights) and perhaps look at lap times and splits occasionally (EDIT plus making system setting changes dictated by the team). Augmented reality is expensive and can cause more problems than it solves.
Edited by The Wookie on Tuesday 4th September 15:24
I've been looking into this a bit, and it's not nearly as far along as you'd expect. Skiiers can already get goggles with some overlaid data, but helmet manufacturers that I've reached out to still seem to think it'll be closer to 10 years before products will be available.
Even as a club racer, can you imagine how useful it would be to have google goggles or something built into your visor that showed you important data from the car as well as GPS-based markers or notes (brake here, avoid this bump, clip this apex, that sort of thing) around the track?
Even as a club racer, can you imagine how useful it would be to have google goggles or something built into your visor that showed you important data from the car as well as GPS-based markers or notes (brake here, avoid this bump, clip this apex, that sort of thing) around the track?
coppice said:
I think the whirring noise you can hear is Gilles Villeneuve , Ronnie Peterson and many other past drivers spinning in their graves. Why not just use the Playstation at home eh?
Who needs shift lights when you've already got dials? Who needs flappy paddles when you've got a clutch? Repeat ad nauseum. coppice said:
I think the whirring noise you can hear is Gilles Villeneuve , Ronnie Peterson and many other past drivers spinning in their graves. Why not just use the Playstation at home eh?
Do you think they never benefitted from advances in technology, be it materials, aero, engine advancements? A father of a colleague works at BAE, on this sort of thing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19372299
Apparently he's had meetings with Ferrari about this, but nothing's started yet.
Apparently he's had meetings with Ferrari about this, but nothing's started yet.
My totally uninformed opinion as to why we have yet to see it is that the immediately obvious significant cost and negatives (such as reduced vision, sufficient contrast for the information to stand out, weight and packaging) vastly out weigh the potential benefits.
IMO we are likely to see Neural Impulse Actuators before this.
IMO we are likely to see Neural Impulse Actuators before this.
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