Homemade augmented reality glasses!
Last week, Google unveiled its augmented reality glasses product called Project Glass. The company has been working on developing the glasses for more than two years and claims to have overcome some of the significant challenges inherent with the technology. Project Glass is not the only augmented reality glasses initiative currently in development, but Google believes it will be the most successful among consumers. Many in the technology community were initially enthusiastic about Project Glass, but some have questioned how difficult it could be to make augmented reality glasses.
– No doubt, augmented reality glasses will be showing us a new and personalized world soon.
Will Powell, an augmented reality developer from the United Kingdom, has created a pair of augmented reality glasses based on Google’s Project Glass. Powell’s glasses work almost exactly like Google’s version. The lenses include digital displays that Powell can interact with using voice commands and he can even take pictures with a camera mounted on the frame. Powell used a pair of Vuzix glasses, which host their own sophisticated video technology, for his system and then created a simple augmented reality application based on what he had learned about Project Glass. The real difference between Powell’s glasses and Project Glass: Powell’s glasses are a working unit.
Powell’s work has called into question Google’s efforts on Project Glass. The company claims that its augmented reality glasses are still in an early stage of development and that it could be some time before they are made commercially available. Powell’s glasses show that such a project may be time consuming, but perhaps not as much as Google is making it seem. There can be no doubt that Google’s project is an ambitious endeavor, but the technology community is beginning to wonder if the company is being as forthcoming with its efforts as it could be.
Powell has not been entirely forthcoming with information on his augmented reality glasses, either. The glasses work similar to Project Glass, but it is currently unknown how portable the system is. Powell has not said what is powering his glasses, which means that could be attached to a high-performance desktop computer. This could mean that much of Google’s work with Project Glass has been delayed because the company has had to fashion a portable, yet powerful augmented reality system that can live up to the expectations of consumers.
