A supervisor on the surface can guide them through complete darkness
In the depths of a six-million-gallon training tank near Houston, a technology meant for the Moon was tested beneath the water. Coda Octopus completed field trials of its Gen 2 Diver Augmented Vision Display alongside NASA astronauts and Navy divers, proving that augmented reality can survive where human senses — and most electronics — cannot. The successful trials mark a quiet but consequential moment: the same tools that help a diver navigate total darkness may one day guide an astronaut across the lunar surface, where the harshness of the void demands the same unforgiving reliability.
- Navy divers routinely operate in zero-visibility conditions where even the most experienced hands cannot see what they are touching — a dangerous gap that no amount of training alone can close.
- Coda Octopus brought its Gen 2 DAVD system to NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, one of the few places on Earth large enough and controlled enough to simulate the full range of real operational challenges underwater.
- Over three days in late February, NASA astronauts and Navy salvage divers pushed the system through shifting conditions — from bright light to complete darkness — testing whether augmented reality overlays, 3D sonar feeds, and surface-to-diver instructions could hold up under pressure.
- The trials concluded successfully, and the Navy wasted little time: the Gen 2 DAVD was added to its Authorized Use list, unlocking a procurement pathway backed by $7.5 million in Office of Naval Research funding through 2023.
- NASA's parallel interest points toward the lunar surface, where astronauts will face lighting extremes and disorienting terrain — conditions that demand exactly the kind of real-time visual guidance the DAVD was built to provide.
In late February, Coda Octopus brought its Gen 2 Diver Augmented Vision Display to NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory near Houston — a 6.2 million gallon tank where astronauts train for spacewalks — to conduct final field trials alongside NASA engineers and Navy divers. The system embeds a high-resolution see-through display into standard dive helmets, feeding wearers real-time instructions, 3D sonar imagery, and augmented reality overlays directly into their visor. A surface supervisor watching live sonar data can guide a diver through complex tasks even when visibility is absolute zero.
The Gen 2 version, delivered to the Navy in November 2020, represented a meaningful advance over earlier iterations — adding ultra-low light imaging, calibrated depth and position sensors, and a precision audio link between diver and surface. The NBL's controlled environment allowed the team to run repeated tests across a full range of lighting conditions, gathering performance data that real-world dive sites could never reliably provide.
The trials succeeded, and the Navy moved swiftly to formalize its commitment — adding the Gen 2 DAVD to its Authorized Use list and backing continued development with approximately $7.5 million in Office of Naval Research funding through 2023. Coda Octopus is already developing a Gen 3 variant compatible with full-face mask systems beyond the current Kirby Morgan helmets.
What gives this moment its larger weight is not the novelty of augmented reality but its proven durability in an environment that destroys ordinary electronics. Water, pressure, and the absolute demand for reliability in life-or-death situations set a bar that consumer technology never faces. NASA's interest suggests the same solution may travel further still — to the Moon, where astronauts will need real-time guidance and enhanced vision in conditions as unforgiving as anything the deep ocean can offer.
In late February, a small team from Coda Octopus gathered at NASA's underwater training complex near Houston to test a piece of equipment that might one day help astronauts explore the Moon. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory—a 6.2 million gallon tank where NASA trains its crews for spacewalks—became the testing ground for the company's Gen 2 Diver Augmented Vision Display, a system that wraps augmented reality around what a diver can see, feeding them real-time instructions, maps, and sonar imagery directly into their helmet visor.
The trials ran February 24 through 26, with NASA astronauts and engineers working alongside divers from the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving unit. What they were testing was not a new concept but a refined one. Coda Octopus had been developing the DAVD—a high-resolution see-through display embedded in standard dive helmets—since 2019. The Gen 2 version, delivered to the Navy in November 2020, represented a significant leap forward. The new system included an ultra-low light imaging sensor that could enhance vision in near-total darkness, a suite of calibrated sensors tracking the diver's depth and head position, and an integrated audio system that allowed supervisors on the surface to communicate with precision and clarity.
The appeal of the technology is straightforward but profound. Navy divers often work in zero-visibility conditions where they cannot see their hands in front of their faces. A supervisor on the surface, watching real-time 3D sonar imagery from Coda's Echoscope system, can guide them through complex tasks by sending step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and even augmented reality overlays directly to the diver's visor. The diver sees their environment enhanced with digital information—3D models, maps, charts—layered over what little light exists underwater. For NASA's lunar ambitions, the same principle applies: astronauts working on the Moon's surface in harsh lighting conditions could receive real-time guidance and visual enhancement from mission control.
The Houston trials mattered because they allowed Coda Octopus to test the system in a controlled environment large enough to simulate real operational challenges. The company could run the same task multiple times, adjust variables from bright light to complete darkness, and gather data on how the technology performed under conditions that mirror what Navy divers actually face. Blair Cunningham, the company's principal innovator on the DAVD program, emphasized that typical real-world testing grounds cannot replicate this level of control. The Navy's divers operate in environments where visibility is often zero, making it nearly impossible to validate the system's performance in the field. The NBL solved that problem.
The trials concluded successfully, and the Navy moved quickly to formalize its commitment. The Gen 2 DAVD was added to the Navy's Authorized Use list, clearing the way for procurement. The Office of Naval Research has committed approximately $7.5 million in funding through 2023 to support development of Gen 2 through Gen 4 versions of the system. Coda Octopus is already working on Gen 3, which will extend the technology to full-face mask variants beyond the current Kirby Morgan helmets.
What makes this moment significant is not that augmented reality exists—it does, everywhere—but that it now works reliably in an environment where traditional electronics fail. Water, pressure, darkness, and the need for absolute reliability in life-or-death situations create constraints that consumer technology never has to meet. The Navy has validated that Coda Octopus has solved those constraints. NASA's interest signals that the same solution might work in an even more extreme environment: the lunar surface, where astronauts will need guidance and enhanced vision to accomplish tasks in conditions as harsh as anything Earth's oceans can produce.
Citações Notáveis
The ability to see, control and manage live operations from multiple visual aspects, including varying lighting conditions to complete darkness, was essential to understanding the operational impact to the diver— Blair Cunningham, Coda Octopus Principal Innovator
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a diver need augmented reality? Can't they just follow radio instructions?
They can, but imagine trying to assemble something in complete darkness while someone on the radio describes where your hands should go. Now imagine that person can see exactly what you're seeing in real time, and can draw an arrow on your visor pointing to the bolt you need to turn. That's the difference.
So the Navy divers work in zero visibility?
Often, yes. Murky water, sediment, depth—conditions where a flashlight barely helps. The sonar from the surface can see through all of it. The diver's helmet display combines that sonar image with their own low-light camera, so they get a composite picture that doesn't exist naturally.
And NASA wants this for the Moon?
The Moon has its own visibility problems. Harsh shadows, glare, dust. The same principle applies: enhance what the astronaut can see, overlay critical information, let mission control guide them through complex tasks in real time.
Why test it in a swimming pool?
Because you can't test it reliably in the ocean. You can't run the same task twice in identical conditions. You can't control the lighting or the variables. The NBL is massive enough to simulate real operations but controlled enough to actually learn something.
What changed between Gen 1 and Gen 2?
Better sensors, better processing power, better audio. The ultra-low light camera is the big one—it lets the diver see in conditions that would have been impossible before. The head-tracking sensor means the display knows which way the diver is looking.
So what happens next?
The Navy starts buying them. The company develops Gen 3. And somewhere down the line, an astronaut on the Moon might be wearing one of these helmets, guided by someone sitting in Houston.