Augmented Reality Glasses | Vuzix Wrap 920AR | AR Glasses

Olympus are to produce the world’s first pair of augmented reality glasses that you won’t feel a complete dork wearing in public.  The glasses themselves look like any other pair of spectacles, but come with a miniature projecting display which connects to a smartphone in order to superimpose graphics and information on to the spectacle lens.  The ‘AR Walker’ weighs no more than 20g and appears to be almost ready for the consumer market.  One example given at the trade show where the glasses were debuted, was in giving the wearer instant weather forecasts in his peripheral vision whenever he looked up towards the sky.

Source : BBC Smart Specs Unite World and Data

LG and Nokia have announced plans to introduce built in augmented reality (AR) featuresto their new mobile handsets later this year.  Whilst AR applications have been appearing on smart phones over the last months, built in augmented reality will take the potential of the technology to another level.  Nokia may also introduce 3D capability (without glasses) to their next generation phones.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the merging of physical and virtual realities. A commonly employed definition of Augmented Reality was given by Ronald Azuma in 1997. He held that Augmented Reality consists of the following three elements :

• A combination of the real and virtual worlds
• Is interactive in real time
• Is registered in 3D

The Vuzix Wrap 920AR glasses are due out in the spring of 2010, and will be the first glasses to combine digital imagery with your real view of the world – augmented reality. Here are the specifications of the eagerly awaited Vuzix augmented reality glasses :

The stereo camera pair delivers a single 1504 x 480 side-by-side image that can be viewed in 3D stereoscopic video, while the video eyewear provides an unprecedented 67-inch display as seen from 10 feet. The Wrap 920AR also includes a 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker, which allows for absolute accuracy of roll pitch and yaw and also X, Y and Z positioning in 3D space

Vuzix Wrap 920AR Specifications:

• 1/3-inch wide VGA Digital Image Sensor
• Resolution: 752H x 480W
• Includes 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker
• Frame rate: 60 fps
• Dynamic range: >55dB linear; >80-100dB in HiDy mode
• Shutter efficiency: >99%
• ADC Resolution: 10-bit column parallel
• High-speed USB 2.0
• PC and Mac compatible
• System requirements: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows7, Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher
• MSRP: $799.99

Neat video from Nokia does a great job of illustrating just what augmented reality glasses will be able to do :