Wearable see-through displays overlaying the user’s real view with computer-generated display output
have gained as a potentially effective means for a variety of mixed reality applications (e.g. in
medicine, industrial maintenance, mobile information systems). They allow to create a visual
perception of the real world visually merged with a virtual world by attaching computer-generated data
to real life objects. The user is enabled to access any kind of information, unobtrusively adapted to his
current situation, while not having to give up paying attention to his environment or conducting his
tasks.
We propose SPECTACLES, a modular, autonomous, lightweight, wirelessly communicating wearable
display device that can be integrated into the physical structure of a glasses frame. SPECTACLES
shall operate autonomously, i.e. have local computation and communication facilities, integrated
power supply, and shall be easily adaptable to a wide number of application domains. To enable the
necessary flexibility in assembling and configuring SPECTACLES, we will develop a modular toolbox
of hardware and software components. The device needs to be able to display different sources of
information, be it (pseudo-static) 2D content, streaming media content (video), and 3D content for
augmented reality applications.