Time to Port Augmented Reality Health Apps to Smart Glasses?

Abstract

The January 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas allowed users to try out the Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses, available for Android 4.0 beginning this summer for less than $500 (iOS fall 2013 availability pending platform approval). This is a wearable Bluetooth/Wi-Fi headpiece that can be worn with regular eyeglasses. It features a built-in high-definition (HD) camera and 428 · 240 pixel Wide Quarter Video Graphics Array (WQVGA) floating eyepiece. Users say it’s like looking at a smartphone from a foot away. Additional features include 720p HD video recording onto 8GB of flash storage, built-in GPS and a compass, and an accelerometer. Available beginning 2014, Google’s Project Glass headpiece already made its appearance on fall 2012 fashion runways with video shot from the glass’s camera. Recently, Google filed a new patent for an input device, using a laser projector on one side and a camera on the other side of two-sided glasses. The laser projector displays the virtual keyboard on your arm while the camera sees the input you’re making with those virtual buttons and turns it into something the computer can understand. Not to be outdone, Microsoft filed its own patent in late 2012 for ‘‘Event Augmentation with Real-Time Information,’’ using a baseball game for illustration. Updated stats on the players in view would appear in the display, with a GPS identifying the event location. Sony’s specs would allow users to share information by looking into each other’s eyes. Video gaming hardware manufacturers have long been exploring the market for AR glasses. And designer sunglasses maker, Oakley, which has been following the development of heads-up displays since 1997, may make a set of wearable computer sunglasses for athletes.