Army Funds Development of Wrist Band Display (moved from ATSNN)

Universal Display Corporation, a leader in organic light emitting device technology, is the recipient of a $1.7 million contract with the U.S. Army via the Small Business Innovation Research program. The contract calls for the development, demonstration, and delivery of prototype flexible, wrist-worn computer and video display units to the U.S. Army.



The era of wrist-worn visual communication devices has arrived, approximately 50 years since they were shown in Dick Tracy cartoons. Once they reach the marketplace, that's just one more device folks will have to watch out for in locker rooms and public bathrooms. [sorry for the intentional pun]

DoD phase III SBIR's are fairly rare because they require a pretty significant investment by the DoD agency sponsoring the original Phase I & Phase II program. Phase II generally requires the company to actually demonstrate some technology that should also be commercially viable. The first link listed below is for the DoD SBIR website that includes a searchable database for all previously awarded SBIR contracts as well as current solicitations (in case you have technology that the military might be interested in.

The second link is for Univeral Display Corporation. They appear to be doing pretty well even without the SBIR contract - they have a licensing agreement with Samsung and are featured in other color display using products.

Related News Links:
www.acq.osd.mil
www.universaldisplay.com

[edit on 5/22/2005 by ChemicalLaser]

That is very, very cool. I sure would like one of those for myself. Anyhow this could in theory revolutionize the way that soldiers communicate, just imagine not having to be near eachother to get a face to face conversation. This is will be one of the worlds most revolutionary pieces of combat equipment, at least until these become helmet mounted visors.