Smart Glasses Explained: Capabilities, Benefits, and Future

The term smart glasses refers to devices that incorporate a technology in screen form, which can be projected / reflected on the lenses or can be a separate component, which presents information to the user without causing distractions when it is not needed.

Smart Glasses have been appearing in the news for several years. One of the milestones was in 2012 when Google announced its development of Google Glass or the appearance of Microsoft Hololens.

It is a product that has yet to evolve and develop further. Observing the potential of these computing devices, there is no doubt that in the near future they will be used in more applications or even on a day-to-day basis.

What do smart glasses do?

As with normal glasses, different smart glasses can do different tasks. There are glasses that change the lens according to the outside environment, some offer us the possibility of taking pictures of what we see and can publish them on the networks, and others that we can define as a mini version of the screen of our phone.

As with other devices, not all models incorporate the same technologies. We can find models with different number of  cameras, GPS sensor, wireless connectivity modules for data transfer, buttons, microphone, etc. The user can communicate with the system through voice, signs or finger sweeps, having different ways of controlling the device according to the model.

Smart Glasses Applications

Smart glasses have a promising future and are beginning to appear in the industrial sector, helping staff to be more efficient and improve work every day.

• Applications in complex assemblies for factories , which allow the operator to indicate step by step the parts he has to place and how he should do it. This results in significant improvements in quality, efficiency and cycle time.
• Security : thanks to the capture of images through smart glasses, we can compare them in real time with a database to locate something we need. We have the example of the Chinese police who use this method to locate suspects and track them.
• A very special application was the app made by the fireman Patrick Jackson , allowing to see plans of buildings in real time or to locate a nearby fire hydrant.
• Augmented reality for the street : by simply focusing our eyes on an establishment, we get all the information available on the web about it, such as the criticism it has received. Another example of use would be the case of advertising, simply by looking at the advertising poster of a movie, we can see the trailer.
• Voice Commands : they are a fundamental part of these devices, since many of them are controlled by our voice. Some of the features that allow you to make would be: make calls, photos / videos with a simple voice command, or questions as they are made with personal assistants such as GoogleHome.
• Visually impaired : one of the applications that attracts most attention is the possibility that people with limited or blind vision can read text or recognize obstacles that arise.

• Health : the quality offered by the images means that they can be used for education, as well as allows the remote consultation of medical care. Over the past few years, smart glasses have gained importance in this sector, a notable fact would occur in 2013, when a group of students from the Ohio School of Medicine witnessed an operating room operation in first person in real time through your computers.
• Sport : we can find smart sports glasses, many of them focused on cycling, which are responsible for monitoring the efforts we make and showing them on the screen.

Other notable applications would be Drivesafe, which allows to detect when a driver falls asleep, and various applications for companies, offering possibilities of inventory control, incident management or remote support.

In ATRIA in addition to smart glasses, we also use other technologies such as tablets or projectors, do you want to install one of these systems in your factory? Contact us!

Here you can see some of the Augmented Reality Projects that we have carried out:

• Assembly instruction projection system
• Augmented reality and assembly of electronic boards
• Augmented reality for packaging placement

Related Post:

• Augmented Reality and its practical applications
• Welcome to the Augmented Reality
• Microsoft HoloLens arrives at ATRIA’s Lab
• Augmented Reality for your company