Augmented reality reaches the bottom of the sea

DAVD is a viewfinder that attaches to the dive helmet and displays photos, videos, diagrams and sonar data that guide the diver in turbid waters.

Professional divers often have to move through waters where they can't see beyond a few centimetres. But the depths will be much more affordable with the advent of the Diver Augmented Vision Display (DAVD), a prototype created with a 3D printer.

It attaches to the Kirby Morgan diving helmet - widely used by military and civilian divers - and displays photos, videos, sketches, text messages and sonar data that guide the user in situations with less visibility.

This is possible thanks to** augmented reality**, a technology that adds digital information to what we are contemplating and allows us a broader view of things.

DAVD is the result of the collaboration between the US Navy and the Israeli firm Lumus, and** will serve on rescue missions, shipbuilding, archaeological explorations....** It resembles glasses that are inserted into a plastic frame that fits inside the helmet. Small projectors reflect images onto the lenses, which send them to the eyes. The diver does not see the glasses, but sees what is projected onto the lenses.

DAVD is paired with a sonar that provides the diver with constant position information and has among its most interesting features the option of displaying text messages from the surface that will get the diver out of trouble in the event that voice communications are cut off.