Satellites are helping to realise the sci-fi fantasy of X-Ray specs without the nasty side effects of blasting the brain with X-Ray radiation. The goggles are designed to help maintenance workers locate precisely pipes and so on underground.

This should mean faster repairs of underground cabling and pipes.

A road worker will wear a small computer on (generic) his belt and will also sport fetching VR goggles. The GPS on the computer will pinpoint the worker to within half an inch, and rather disturbingly will be able to tell which way he is looking. The unit then finds the maps of the underground pipe network for that location and the VR goggles will display the system as though the user was wearing the real thing.

The units were developed at Nottingham University, which has now received an additional £650,000 of funding from the government. Delays to repairs caused by inaccurate digging are thought to cost upwards of £2 billion per year. ®