The concept of smart glasses has been around since Google Glass was unveiled several years ago. Google has slowed down a bit on Glass’s development, but that hasn’t stopped other companies. For two years now, Vuzix has been working on its own version called the M100, and they finally demonstrated it at CES 2015. Even Sony built a similar product and showed it off at the international convention.
Today, it seems like smart glasses is just a cool idea. And that’s it. The Vuzis M100 is definitely cool, but it could also be extremely beneficial for businesses. It’s a lot like Google Glass. When wearing them, a small screen is projected in the corner of the user’s vision, easily readable. Anybody wearing a pair can scroll through programs like maps and video feed streaming from the camera included in the device.
The company is advertising the glass as something practical for warehouse settings and repair men. In large warehouses such as Amazon’s, when a worker is ready to fetch a package, they can use the glasses to make the process a lot easier and quicker. The M100 has arrows that will lead the worker to the exact location of the package.
Once there, the worker can scan the barcode by simply looking at it through Vuzix’s lens. Information is then sent to the system managing the inventory, updating it in real time.
The smart glasses can also lead repair men to the location where a repair is needed. From there, the lens will display a video guiding the service worker through the entire mending process – especially the dangerous and difficult steps.
So while smart glasses seem to be just cool, it seems like Vuzix is actually trying to push industrial companies into actually embracing it, After all, it seems to make the package retrieval a lot easier, which could mean quicker delivery times, happier customers, and maybe even cheaper business costs.
Sony’s smart glasses did exactly what Google Glass has been doing … looking cool. The SmartGlass Attach – as the name suggests – attaches to a normal pair of glasses. It’s also similar to Google Glass and M100. It’s OLED microdisplay shines in front of the right eye, and the image is surprisingly bright and vivid.
Sony didn’t present any practical uses for their glass as Vuzix did, and they didn’t give any timelines of when and if they actually planned to pursue making Attach available to consumers. Their demonstration focused on sports – showing a jogging path through the lens and even creating an imaginary route for a golf ball.
For consumers, it’ll be a while before there’s actually a decent market for smart glasses. Like I said earlier, it’s mainly just cool. But for businesses, they could be very helpful today. Amazon continues to improve delivery time. They’re working on their drone delivery service, and in New York, they launched a one-hour delivery service using bicycle messengers.
The Vuzix smart glasses can organize warehouses even more while also decreasing package retrieval time. Something like this could have a domino effect, also improving delivery times if workers can get packages on trucks quicker and more efficiently.
But just like other cool technologies such as Google’s self-driving car and Intel’s RealSense that allows robots like drones to adapt to its surrounding, it could be several years before smart glasses develop a real market.
Right now. Vuzix had sold several thousand units, which are currently being used in the field.
Check out the rest of our CES 2015 coverage HERE
[PhotoCredit: Vuzix, Engadget]
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Will Smart Glasses Every Actually Become A Thing? Vuzix Is Working On It
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