BAE Designs Smart Helmet That Can Turn Any Room Into a Virtual Battlefield

Developed by London-based defence equipment giant BAE Systems in collaboration with Birmingham University, the glasses can turn almost any surface into a virtual command centre.

Similar to Microsoft's HoloLens headset, BAE's creates what it calls a 'mixed reality' combining the real world with a virtual interface that can project a battlefield onto any surface combined with real-time video chat and live feeds, Huffington Post reported.

The team came up with two concepts, one designed for soldiers on the ground and the second which would create a virtual cockpit for pilots.

While BAE's previously developed Striker II helmet simply adds augmented reality to a physical cockpit dashboard, the new concept would completely replace the physical controls, instead only showing contextual information.

"Being able to physically manipulate virtual objects in the real world has been challenging scientists for 40 years," said professor Bob Stone, from University of Birmingham.

"Since my first virtual reality experience at Nasa nearly 30 years ago, the technology has evolved from the primitive head-mounted displays and computers to today's world where we can interact with complex virtual objects, integrated in real-time with real-world scenarios," he added.

BAE says that while they're working on headsets right now, the technology is moving so quickly that the same technology could be squeezed onto a contact lens in just 20 years.