Smart Glasses With Augmented Reality
Streamline your business with augmented reality smart glasses that can let you know when an email or text message arrives without the need for you to pick up your phone. They can also track your performance and display messages with the help of sensors and GPS technology.
Longan Vision makes smart glasses that are customized for specific use cases, like the FVS headset that provides first responders with enhanced vision. The headset has an ergonomic design, a range of input options and various haptic feedback tools.
Augmented Reality
Smart glasses with augmented reality can add digital images or 3D holograms to the user’s view of the real world. This technology enables people to work hands-free by superimposing information on their surroundings. It also allows field service technicians to be coached by veteran team members while working in the field, which saves money and increases productivity.
AR systems can be powered by a smartphone, a separate computer or even an external “compute box,” worn on the person’s head. They may also use a combination of cameras, sensors and geolocation technologies like GPS or algorithm-based SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping technology that gets data from sensors) to determine where they are in the world and thus which real-world environment to overlay with digital 3D images or holograms.
Some examples of AR systems include the popular Pokemon Go game that uses GPS to display Pokemon creatures on the gamer’s screen; and the Google Glass Explorer Edition, which combines hands-free computing with voice activation to enable a range of tasks. More sophisticated applications include the Magic Leap 2, which is being used by medical professionals to visualize 3D models of complex surgical procedures for training purposes.
Most AR systems require a special headset to be worn, but the hardware can be housed in a wide variety of forms, including lightweight frames and specialized sunglasses. Many manufacturers build the optical display into the frame, while others move non-optical control components to a smartphone or other paired device.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) headsets take over your vision and hearing to transport you to a completely virtual world. Smart glasses, on the other hand, keep you in the real world with digital elements laid over top of it.
Some of the latest AR glasses are designed to look and feel like eyeglasses, but with enhanced capabilities for your everyday life. These include a bone conduction audio system that lets you hear your surroundings without blocking your ears with a bud or headphones, HD photography and video streaming and smart home functionality.
Another cool feature of some new smart glasses is finger tracking, allowing you to interact with the display smart glasses with ar by moving your hands. This can also work in conjunction with the microphone to let you talk to your digital assistant.
Some smart glasses are able to project holograms in front of your eyes, creating the effect of looking at 3D objects that can be moved and interacted with as you would with regular glasses. This type of AR is sometimes referred to as mixed reality. Examples of these types of smart glasses include the Lenovo Mirage Star Wars Jedi Challenges and the Optinvent ORA-X wearable AR headset. The latter is aimed at industrial users, offering remote support and software updates. It also supports HD photography and has a head-tracking camera that can be used to control the display.
Interaction
Aside from a screen to display the augmented reality, smart glasses must also have a means of interaction. This is where the different models differ and are dependent on their smart glasses with ar intended use. Some manufacturers integrate non-optical control components into the headset while others move these to a separate controller, PC or smartphone. This is done to reduce the weight and size of the device while ensuring that it has the necessary computing power for its augmented reality capabilities.
Depending on the model, some smart glasses have built-in microphones and speakers to support audio communication with friends or coworkers. Some have cameras that enable users to record and share first-person video. Others allow users to view and interact with 3D digital content using holographic technology. Some have motion sensors that detect hand and eye movements to control the content displayed on the screens of the headsets.
Some AR headsets have sensors that can identify a pre-loaded marker to trigger the projection of augmented reality content. This can be helpful in reducing the learning curve for new equipment. It also allows users to experience the same content on multiple devices.
Other augmented reality smart glasses are designed to look like ordinary frames and indistinguishable from the people around them. This allows the devices to be worn more easily and can increase user adoption and privacy. Examples of these include the Ray-Ban Stories, a product by Facebook’s Meta and luxury eyewear brand EssilorLuxxotica. The devices contain dual 5-megapixel cameras, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other sensors. They are able to recognize faces and read messages sent via the Messenger app.
Battery Life
The best smart glasses can perform a variety of functions like answering calls, playing different media, recording videos, snapping photos and integrating with your social media accounts. They also blend fashion and function with various frame designs and lenses. Some even include electrochromic lenses that can turn black with the press of a button, so you can watch AR content over a dark screen for more immersive viewing.
The Spectacles 3 from Snap are the latest edition of its popular AR specs, boasting dual HD cameras for capturing videos and images, plus 3D AR features. The glasses can achieve about 12 hours of music playback, a full day of video chats and calls, and 120 incoming notifications on a single charge. They’re water-, sweat- and dust-resistant and can be set up from Android or iOS phones.
Ray-Ban Stories are another pair of stylish smart glasses that can capture and share content. Developed in partnership with Meta, these smart glasses allow you to use platform-friendly voice commands (“Hey Facebook, take a picture”) as well as stereo speakers for listening to music and handling calls.
Engo’s sporty augmented reality glasses are designed for athletes like runners, cyclists and triathletes. The smartglasses project real-time performance stats on an AMOLED microdisplay planted in photochromic lenses, which can be paired with Garmin watches, bike sensors like power meters and smartphones. It can display data including time, distance covered and heart rate.