Category: Gadgets

These gadgets were designed to help to better understand the eating habits of these mysterious creatures.

A new cool wearable technology study is now underway through researchers from James Cook University (JCU) who will be using the devices to help to better understand the eating habits of sharks.

The scuba diving scientists will be adding special wearables to the tails of the underwater predators.

The researchers scuba dived north east of Cairns on Osprey Reef, where there were special cages filled with tuna heads that were designed to lure the sharks into the area. Those sharks were then lassoed around their tails and fitted with special cool wearable technology. The devices included microcomputers that are comparable to the fitness trackers that have become exceptionally commonplace among consumers.

This cool wearable technology keeps track of the sharks in a similar way to how fitness bands track humans.

One of the lead researchers in the study, Richard Fitzpatrick, explained that these new wearables make it possible to avoid the old technique of having to wrangle sharks back to the boats in order to have to implant other forms of trackers. He said that “With these [microcomputers] we’re able to put them on the shark underwater and then let them go again.”

Fitzpatrick pointed out that “We’re trying to minimize stress to the sharks, do it as quickly as possible so then they return back to normal behavior as quickly as possible and we get better data.” He was also among the researchers who were able to head back to the site and collect the wearables two weeks after they were initially placed on the sharks.

Though it was somewhat challenging to be able to catch the same sharks that had the cool wearable technology, instead of being able to catch any shark and fit it with a device, they were able to successfully do so and gather the data collected by the wearables. This provided the research with significant information about the impact of tourism operators who were feeding the sharks and the way this altered the natural energy consumption of those ocean creatures.

U.S. Navy researchers have developed a new high-tech underwater helmet with AR display.

While augmented reality (AR) displays are nothing new to the military, as they’ve used these displays for decades (particularly in the form of heads-up displays (HUDs) in the cockpits of aircrafts and more recently integrated into helmets), this technology is now evolving further with the development of an underwater augmented reality helmet. The unique diver’s helmet is being developed by engineers at the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division. It will feature a built-in HUD, which can guide divers to specific locations, help them find objects, and even provide them with vision when there is almost no visibility.

The AR helmet is being designed to increase the efficiency and safety of divers in the line of duty.

According to Tech Times, the futuristic Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) helmet will help to make the work of professional divers easier and more streamlined compared to the current standard masks and neoprene gloves that are worn. The mask narrows the field of view and the gloves obstruct precision.

Just like the Marvel superhero Iron Man, divers will be able to view all the necessary data they need within the helmet, from checking their location to tapping into sonar data. They can keep looking straight ahead instead of having to check a smartwatch display.

Dennis Gallagher, the research team leader, said that what users of the new helmet can expect is “a capability similar to something from an Iron Man movie.”

Although still in the prototype phase, the underwater augmented reality helmet could see widespread use.

Due to the fact that underwater work typically involves poor light conditions and/or salty water, the DAVD displays can help to provide additional visual clues that could greatly assist divers, showing them the image in front of both eyes, creating visual depth. The AR display can also improve their connection to surface sources, such as a ship, which can send out information to the display.

While the device is only in its early prototype phase, future improvements made to it could lead to the inclusion of sonar sensors mounted on the helmet, which would make it even easier for information to be collected and displayed.

The Navy has said that in-water simulation testing for the underwater augmented reality helmet is slated for October.