Tag: augmented reality glasses

Lex Gillette may not be able to see, technology is letting him show kids how sports look from the athlete’s side.

Lex Gillette has been blind since he was 7 years old, but this hasn’t stopped him from becoming a three time American Paralympian, and he is now able to use Google Glass to share this experience with kids, who will be able to see his sport in a way that even he cannot.

Gillette is a competitor in the 100 meter, 200 meter, triple jump, and long jump events at the Paralympics.

Without being able to use his eyes to see what he is doing, Gillette has managed to bring home two silver medals in track and field events at the Paralympics. Now, with advances that have been made in camera technology, this athlete will be able to broadcast his sports, from his own perspective, with Google Glass augmented reality glasses. This will broadcast its way to classrooms throughout the United States, in August.

Gillette will be wearing a Google Glass headset to take kids with him when he takes off at a sprint.

According to Gillette, “I’m a blind athlete, and to be able to wear the glasses and have the kids see through my eyes although I can’t even myself, that’s amazing to me.” He added that “I’m a jumper primarily. There’s a lot of things that go on with that, having someone basically directing me down this runway, and I’m running fast, he’s making calls on the fly.”

To Gillette, this provides an AR experience that “would definitely be cool” for the children to be able to actually view the way in which all of this occurs, and to be able to see the visual of what his sports would look like if they were running in his shoes.

This entire experience is the result of a program called Classroom Champions, which uses technology to connect children who may be struggling in the classroom, with Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The purpose is to help them to understand the purpose, nature, and ability to set and pursue goals. Gillette pointed out that he doesn’t have any physical sight, but this has never been able to stop him from “having any dreams or the vision to accomplish my goal.”

A number of forms of technology other than Google Glass will also be used in this program including the Go-Pro spidercam and octocopters.

Microsoft takes a big step toward the wearable glasses market.

Recently, the computer software and electronics company acquired a patent for object-recognizing augmented reality glasses from Osterhout Design Group, a deal worth $150 million.

The smart glasses equipped with this technology could result in people interacting with their environment in a whole new way.

More specifically, the patent for which Microsoft filed is an application called “Wearable Behavior-based Vision System”. The wearable device that could result from this technology may be smart glasses that look like large sunglasses, which could enhance how the wearer interacts with his or her environment.

For instance, if the wearer was crossing the street and a vehicle happened to be approaching at a fast speed, the glasses would warn the wearer if the vehicle was perceived as a threat. In addition to this function, allegedly, the smart glasses could combine the real world with the virtual world. Thus, if the wearer were playing a game using the glasses, for example, and he or she were walking around their home, the glasses will incorporate objects from the real world (ex. furniture) with objects from the game (virtual world).

Rumors about Microsoft developing augmented reality glasses are nothing new.

Since November 2012, there have been rumors circulating about Microsoft working on some form of wearable tech involving glasses. However, by securing this patent, it does seem that the company is serious about entering the wearables space.

On the other hand, simply because a company files for a patent, this does not necessarily mean it will use the technology as has been rumored. Until Microsoft officially releases information regarding what it plans to do with the application, there still is no solid evidence to back the old rumors. After all, it is quite possible that the massive corporation may only be building a prototype device that they have no intention of releasing to the market or at least not for several years down the road.

That being said, if it turns out that Microsoft does create object-recognizing augmented reality glasses, it would produce a smart glass device equipped with unique features that Google Glass would lack.