In the future we will not need to look down at the computer or mobile device, since we will be able to consult all the information through glasses. This Robocop-style technology is not science fiction: many companies are already working on it. Some of them presented their advances at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (USA), a huge fair where small and large companies present their ideas and innovations in electronic devices.
One of the prototype glasses, presented by the Lumus Optics company (Tel Aviv, Israel), obtains the images from a computer or mobile device via Bluetooth. Ari Grobman, manager of the company, informed Technology Review of the multiple possibilities that these types of technologies present. For example, adding a camera to the glasses could use facial recognition systems such as those already used by Facebook and Google, which help users with tasks such as tagging photos.
For its part, the Vuzic company (Rochester, New York), has developed an industrial version for tasks such as superimposing planes of a machine in the vision of a mechanic. The device is very useful to facilitate the work of any technical support team, since they will be able to obtain images in their field of vision that serve as a guide.
Other companies are working on augmented reality applications, similar to those that already exist on some smartphones. Aurasma, a division of the software company Autonomy, has developed a device that can recognize reference images and add virtual 3D objects to them. It is also possible to recognize the gestures of the hands, which facilitates the interactivity of the virtual contents in the smart glasses.
Much more futuristic, Smart Goggles from Sensics (Columbia, USA) cover a person’s eyes and ears and completely immerse them in a virtual 3D world. This is possible thanks to 11 mobile phone cameras and a video screen in front of each eye.
In the not too distant future, these types of innovations will change things to such an extent that, according to Matt Mills, a member of Aurasma, the most frequent way of obtaining information is through smart glasses without the need to go to a web browser. Internet, as this procedure is much faster than even taking a photo.
