thedrifter
05-02-06, 11:47 AM
May 08, 2006
Extrasensory troops
Researchers hone night vision, underwater ‘sight’
Grunts with 360-degree unobstructed night vision. Divers sensing sonar in their heads while maintaining normal vision underwater.
The human tongue could be key in the quest to create the super warrior of the future, giving troops sensory powers similar to owls, snakes and fish. At least that’s what scientists at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola think, as they turn science fiction into reality by routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue and into the brain.
Dr. Anil Raj, the project’s lead scientist, plans to demonstrate the system to Navy and Marine Corps divers in May. If the military screeners like what they see, it could be put on a “rapid response” to get in the hands of military users within the next three to six months.
The research is funded through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The Florida institute is the first to research military uses of sensory augmentation. A narrow strip of red plastic connects from a device known as the Brain Port to the tongue, where 144 microelectrodes transmit information through nerve fibers to the brain.
Michael Zinszer, a veteran Navy diver who took part in testing, likened the feeling on his tongue to Pop Rocks candies.
“You are feeling the outline of this image,” he said. “I was in the pool, they were directing me to a very small object, and I was able to locate everything very easily.”
Work on infrared-tongue vision for Army Rangers isn’t as far along. But Raj said it would allow troops to work in the dark without cumbersome night-vision goggles and to “see out the back of their heads.”
— The Associated Press
Ellie
Extrasensory troops
Researchers hone night vision, underwater ‘sight’
Grunts with 360-degree unobstructed night vision. Divers sensing sonar in their heads while maintaining normal vision underwater.
The human tongue could be key in the quest to create the super warrior of the future, giving troops sensory powers similar to owls, snakes and fish. At least that’s what scientists at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola think, as they turn science fiction into reality by routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue and into the brain.
Dr. Anil Raj, the project’s lead scientist, plans to demonstrate the system to Navy and Marine Corps divers in May. If the military screeners like what they see, it could be put on a “rapid response” to get in the hands of military users within the next three to six months.
The research is funded through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The Florida institute is the first to research military uses of sensory augmentation. A narrow strip of red plastic connects from a device known as the Brain Port to the tongue, where 144 microelectrodes transmit information through nerve fibers to the brain.
Michael Zinszer, a veteran Navy diver who took part in testing, likened the feeling on his tongue to Pop Rocks candies.
“You are feeling the outline of this image,” he said. “I was in the pool, they were directing me to a very small object, and I was able to locate everything very easily.”
Work on infrared-tongue vision for Army Rangers isn’t as far along. But Raj said it would allow troops to work in the dark without cumbersome night-vision goggles and to “see out the back of their heads.”
— The Associated Press
Ellie