X-AR (headset for detecting invisible objects)

2023: Product Announcement

At the end of February 2023, the MIT introduced the X-AR AR headset, which gives the user a kind of X-ray vision. The device uses radio frequency (RF) signals for operation. The latter are most often used for communication, for example, in walkie-talkies, mobile phones, etc. Their ability to pass through solid material makes them good locators - as long as the hidden object has an electronic device tag to receive, process and resend a signal (RFID).

The headset guides the user as he walks around the room to the location of the object, which is displayed as a transparent sphere in the augmented reality (AR) interface. Once the item is in the user's hand, the X-AR checks to see if it has picked up the item correctly. When MIT researchers tested X-AR in warehouse conditions, the headset was able to locate hidden items with an average accuracy of 9.8 cm. Scientists found that on average, the product was less than 10 cm from where X-AR was directing the user. The basic methods tested by the researchers had an average error of 25 to 35 cm. And she confirmed that users picked up the correct item with 96% accuracy.

X-AR (headset for detecting invisible objects)

X-AR can help e-commerce warehouse workers quickly find items on cluttered shelves or in boxes, as well as identify the exact item to order when there are many similar items in a single container. The device can also be used in manufacturing to help technical personnel find the right parts to assemble the product.

Professor Fadel Adib, who leads the division of wireless and sensor technologies, also led a group of researchers in the creation of the X-AR headset. The team started with a Microsoft Hololens AR headset with a radio frequency antenna. They then programmed the antenna to use synthetic aperture radar (SAR). According to Adib, this method allowed the antenna to measure the distance between itself and objects with RFID tags. This method was very effective due to the free range of human movements: frequent human movement provided the SAR antenna with multiple measurements, contributing to more accurate localization.^[1]

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