Office Automated Delivery Robot System

 Our robot encourages workers use their work hours more efficiently. It helps workers focus on their works by processing unnecessary works such as delivery for them. It also facilitates exchange of office materials such as prototypes and classified materials between departments. Our robot is like a background process in operating systems; it handles its job silently but effectively that its users – primarily the office workers- can go on about doing their works without having to leave their stations and lose focus. The potential that this robot is capable of are not limited to just within office space delivering documents and mails. It could be also used to deliver specimens and supplies at hospitals and also act as a way-finding aid in building complexes.&nbsp

Use of compound microlens arrays as a magnifier in near-eye head-up displays

This thesis reports a new approach for making a very compact near-eye display (NED) using two microlens array (MLA) layers. The two MLAs will work in conjunction as a magnifying lens (MLA magnifier). The purpose of the MLA magnifier is to aid the eye accommodate on a display that is positioned within several centimeters from the eye, by generating a virtual image of the display at optical infinity. While there are recently developed techniques for similar purposes such as waveguides [17, 18], and retinal scanning methods [21], using a magnifying lens has been the most exploited avenue for generating a virtual image due to its rather simple, tried-and-true optical properties; near-eye display systems that incorporate a magnifying lens, whether it is a single piece or a compound, has been well-studied since the dawn of head-up displays. However, magnifying lens-based optics is inherently hard to make compact, because as the focal length becomes smaller, the thickness of the lens becomes larger. This thesis presents in detail the method for making a MLA magnifier that retains a thin profile of about 2 mm in thickness with a system focal length of about 6 mm. Thus the total thickness of the MLA magnifier system is around 8 mm (excluding the thickness of the display) in non-folded optics configuration, which is much more compact in comparison to other popular near-eye displays such as Google Glass or Recon Instrument’s Snow HUD goggles having folded optics.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofGraduat

Compact volumetric see-through near-eye display

Near-eye displays (NEDs) are devices placed in the vicinity of a person’s visual field to facilitate the implementation of augmented reality (AR), by conveying visual information such as virtual images. Because NEDs are usually put on the head and present virtual imagery to the user, many considerations with regards to the areas such as optics, optometry, human-computer interaction, and ergonomics need to be factored in when designing an NED. There are a few design considerations that are more challenging in nature, namely the minimization of the NED form-factor, and the maximization of the quality of the virtual images being presented to the user as well as the see-through visibility, as they tend to trail the advancement in optics and display technologies. In this dissertation, we present two see-through near-eye display (NED) optical designs and a new microlens array configuration for light field displays, as potential solutions to the specific challenges in the designing of NEDs with the following objectives in mind: Objective 1: Miniaturization of the visor-based NED form-factor. Objective 2: Improvement of the see-through visibility in direct-view NEDs. Objective 3: The design of a visually transparent light source, for further improvement of the see-through visibility in direct-view NEDs. Objective 4: Image resolution improvement in light field NEDs (LFNEDs). The presentation of how we achieve the objectives in each corresponding section takes place in the following order: first, we begin by building the theoretical foundation on the imaging principles of each optical system. The theoretical works are then validated through simulations run on ray tracing software. Next, we fabricate our own micro-optical elements such as concave micromirror arrays and transparent light guides using microfabrication and polymer replication techniques. Lastly, we prototype physical devices incorporating the micro-optical elements that we fabricate in-house and demonstrate that the results we obtain from the prototype confirm the simulation results.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofGraduat