Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 20 November 2015 by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Writer surgery—or patients who are blind or visually impaired. Three-dimensional sensing involves the use of gestures, body, voice, or facial recognition to com- municate with a device, according to The Optical Society, a Washington, D.C.-based association that focuses on optics and photonics. Probably the best-known use of 3-D sensing is in many of the popu- lar dance video games, where users hold on to a sensor and are scored on how accurate their moves are compared to what's shown on the screen, said Andre Wong, PhD, di- rector, product line management for commercial diode lasers, Lumentum, Milpitas, Calif. (Lumentum won an award last year from the Optics Society for the development of a 3-D sensing device.) On an Xbox gaming system, this technology is part of the Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) Kinect controller. Other uses of 3-D sensing tech- nology include the growing prolif- eration of 3-D cameras on smart- phones and even tablets, Dr. Wong said. "You take a picture of a corner of a room and it'll tell you it's 3.5 feet in that area," he said. The cam- era is using its sensing technology to measure the size of the corner. In 2014, Google (Mountain View, Calif.) announced Project Tango, which involved the release of Android phones with advanced 3-D sensors that tracked motion and could build a visual map of a room using 3-D scanning. The idea was to let technology developers experi- ment with the sensors on the phone and see what applications they could find. In 2013, Apple (Cupertino, Calif.) purchased the Israeli 3-D sensor company PrimeSense, with the anticipation of future uses of 3-D sensing. The growth of 3-D sensing is said to be so large, market research reports predict that the $2.2 billion market for gesture recognition and touchless sensing in 2012 will hit $22.04 billion by 2020. So what does all of this have to do with healthcare and ophthalmol- ogy? Exploring potential in healthcare, eyecare "I think there's a huge untouched potential in healthcare," Dr. Wong said. In fact, the use of gesture recognition within healthcare will account for a significant part of the market growth in the coming years, according to a 2014 report from the company Research and Markets (Dublin, Ireland). However, the field is still growing. Dr. Wong received a phone call from a dentist who wanted to scan patients' teeth to create molds of them rather than use the traditional messy putty to make an imprint. With a camera that has 3-D sens- ing technology, such an approach is possible. There's also an obvious connection with 3-D printing that has become more well-known in the past couple of years. As 3-D facial recognition im- proves, healthcare organizations could move toward 3-D sensing- enabled computers that recognize users, Dr. Wong said. This would transform the current reliance on passwords, and it has implications in consumer realms as well, such as with ATMs. Dr. Wong has also heard of hospitals working on gesture recog- nition where employees could use a computer without having to touch the keyboard to help cut down on the spread of contaminants, he said. Carl Zeiss Meditec (Jena, Germa- ny) has 3-D visualization products for neurosurgical microsurgery, but they are not yet in ophthalmology, said Susanne Hellwage, external communications. Alex Fong, senior vice president, Instrumental and Life Sciences, Business Development, Gooch & Housego, Orlando, Fla., sees the potential for 3-D sensing incorpo- rated with a system like the da Vinci (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, Ca- Popular, growing technology has applications beyond consumer electronics T hree-dimensional (3-D) sensing is a technological advance that's become a growing part of consumer electronics. Yet experts in optics think even- tually the technology could help eye Exploring 3-D sensing for ophthalmology, healthcare Everyday uses of 3-D sensing These are just some ways that 3-D sensing may become part of someone's morning routine in the future: 1. A smartphone alarm wakes you up. Based on the weather forecast, it suggests what outfit you should wear. 2. Because there was no rain during the night, the phone triggers a sensor for an outdoor sprinkler system to turn on. 3. Your shower senses your approach and heats the water to your usual temperature of choice. 4. The heel on your shoe is broken; you are able to 3-D print a new one to match what you are wearing. 5. Your refrigerator lets you know that you are low on milk and eggs and sends a reorder to the grocery delivery service. EW Source: The Optical Society continued on page 22 OPTICS INSIDE: HOW TO ACQUIRE 3-D INFORMATION INPUT: OBJECTS TO IMAGE AND MEASURE Body, hands Landscape, environment METHODS OF DATA ACQUISITION AND ASSESSMENT STEREOSCOPIC VISION Viewing the same scene from two adjacent points of view (animal eyes or artificial lenses) to visually perceive three-dimensional depth and gauge distance. STRUCTURED LIGHT By projecting a light pattern (plane, grid, or shape) at a known angle onto an object and analyzing pattern distortions, this technique captures imaging and dimensional information. TIME OF FLIGHT A variety of methods that measure the time it takes for an object, particle, or electromagnetic or acoustic wave to travel a fixed distance through a medium. OUTPUT: TOUCHLESS 3-D INTERFACES Gesture recognition Scanning and sensing Dimensional modeling Source: The Optical Society

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