Vuzix Shield AR glasses look like everyday specs

Vuzix discusses its new augmented reality headset which looks like everyday reading glasses. Is it a winner?

Vuzix Shield augmented reality glasses look like everyday spectacles

The world of augmented reality will become more accessible with Vuzix unveiling an AR headset that looks like everyday reading glasses. Instead of donning a large clunky AR headset, users can put on these glasses and not only see Pokemons in the street, but in future holograms of their friends standing in front of them and talking to them.

The unveiling of the Vuzix Shield smart glasses at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show is part of the dream of company founder, New York based Paul Travers. He said that for now Vuzix Shield glasses were destined for hands-free work in industry, but soon also metaverse applications.

Operators in a warehouse will see otherwise invisible labelling on warehouse shelves telling them not only where to place incoming goods on a shelf, but instructions on how to pack and unpack goods. The glasses could not only read QR codes, they could use artificial intelligence to recognise items and display instructions about them in the user’s field-of-view.

“There’s a pair of cameras at the front that can measure the space in front of you,” he explained. “There’s also a pair of teeny display engines in the temples. When you look, it’s all 3D in front of you.”

He said the guides displayed by Shield were “crystal clear”. They are like looking through a normal pair of glasses. The Shield may look like normal glasses, but they have an eight core processor and offer Wi-Fi connectivity.

The Vuzix Shield is a competitor to Google Glass, which still is used for industrial applications, but Mr Travers has targeted his own markets, and warehousing and medical use are two, along with fashion and automotive industries. They can also be used for creating three dimensional designs.

Mr Travers said doctors performing knee surgery could check alignments when they place screws in a patient’s knee with both hands free to operate. The company Pixee Medical had already developed a computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery solution using augmented reality, he said.

Mr Travers said Vuzix’s AR glasses were already used in South Africa to provide an “expert doctor” function. The doctor appeared in the glasses and offered instructions and advice to a local surgeon as they operated. The cameras in the glasses let the expert doctor virtually see through the local surgeon’s eyes.

Vuzix Shield augmented reality glasses

Mr Travers said in future users might see a virtual version of a friend or colleague in front of them as a hologram when they talked online. To achieve this, users would need to upload a virtual representation of themselves. Their avatar might accurately portray them or be stylised.

The glasses would view a wearer’s head movements and expressions and replicate it to the other wearer. “That’s a perfect example of the metaverse entering the real world,” Mr Travers said.

Mr Travers founded the Rochester, New York firm in 1997, It employs 105 staff, has offices in the US, UK and Japan, and has a history making computer display devices for military tactical equipment and 3D gaming as well as manufacturing training and medical use.

Mr Travers has a background in electrical and computer engineering.

He said the Vuzix Shield glasses could be manufactured prescription ready and would ship in the second quarter of this year.