Augmented reality glasses – a glimpse of the future?

8 May, 2012

On 4 April Google used Google+ to announce Project Glass, a project to develop augmented reality glasses. If you’re not already familiar with Google’s social networking site, check out my overview of how to make it work for businesses.

The Google[X] team, which has previously worked on other leading technologies such as the self-driving car, posted a promotional video showing what they envisaged the glasses might be able to do. In typical Google style it was smart, well thought-through and featured light-touch comedy.

Features

So, what did the video reveal? Well, we follow the anonymous hero as he goes through the day and see the glasses could do all kinds of practical things – tell him the time, give him details of the current weather and a forecast, remind him he has a date that evening.

When his friend sends a text it appears in view and he replies by speaking. The glasses convert his speech to a text and send it back.

He gets real-time travel information – the subway is closed – and is quickly offered an alternate walking route using Google Maps. Why he wasn’t walking the few blocks in the first place is anyone’s guess.

He sees a poster and asks the glasses to remind him to buy tickets; he’s inspired by some street art and the glasses take a picture then post it to his circles (no mention of Facebook or Twitter sharing here!); in a book shop he even gets directions to the music section.

Other features suggested by the promo include the frankly Big Brother ability to check on the location of the mate he is meeting – he’s 402 feet away apparently – video calling, and a standard location check-in function.

Early feedback

The original post asked for feedback and the team were overwhelmed with responses. Of course, the vast majority of people already engaged on the Google+ platform welcomed the idea with open arms, demanding price and release date information and volunteering as testers.  Suggestions were made about how the glasses could be useful for the emergency services and even for aging musicians as way of prompting them with song lyrics.

One of the other major themes was about those, like myself, who already wear glasses and how this augmented reality could be integrated with those. On 12 April one of the designers on the team posted to reassure people that, they too were bespectacled, and that they were factoring prescription glasses into their thinking. Some mock-up images were posted of how the glasses might look with users’ existing prescription specs.

Alternate reality

Of course, augmented reality has been a growth area for quite some time. After Google’s announcement, lots of lists like this one appeared detailing the best current augmented reality apps which include topics such as stars, mountain peaks, golfing and location-based intelligence.

One such app which is gaining traction with big advertisers is Aurasma. This app allows users to access additional, often video-related, content when holding a mobile device over, for example, an advert in a magazine. Holiday Inn used it to create experiences for people at one of their London hotels which featured world-class athletes. A table tennis player appeared behind the reception desk and played a game with the user, others had their picture taken with several augmented reality athletes. And Clarks have used it in a national magazine advertising campaign to give users access to additional video content showcasing their shoes.

Commercial opportunities

So what are the business opportunities if the glasses become reality? The BBC’s report on the announcement contained comments about the commercial opportunities, especially for advertisers.

Clearly this kind of gadget would take location-based advertising to a whole new level. But how would users react? Certainly the comments on the BBC’s report would leave us to believe the idea of such targeted advertising is not that popular, with one user suggesting comments about monetisation and advertising were, “the kiss of death for me,”.

As consumers, we are used to adverts appearing at the side of our screen which are directly relevant to recent searches we might have carried out. But would we want these popping up in our vision? I suspect there will have to be a lot of testing done to determine user reaction to this as a feature. And without the support of advertisers in some form or another, would the project be commercially viable?

Practicalities

Advertising issues aside, Google still have some issues to overcome in terms of how to power the glasses and where to put the processor.

We’re used to micro and nano technology, but this proposal takes that to a whole new level as they would need to be light enough to be worn as a pair of glasses on the face. The addition of speakers and a microphone just adds to the technology that needs to be shrunk.

Technology aside, many people who need prescription glasses choose contact lenses instead. Would those people make a compromise on their image in order to access the features of glasses such as these? Or is the logical next step augmented reality contacts? Perhaps, as according to Wikipedia, one of the Google team “has already worked on putting displays into contact lenses,”.

Bringing it into focus

So how close actually are Google to releasing alternate reality glasses to the market? Well, that’s anyone’s guess. The video itself is called One Day, suggesting that they aren’t yet ready to push them out into the shops.

But even taking the step of releasing the information about the project hints that Google are closer than most people would have thought.

AR technology concept broker/analyst Marianne Lindsell is quoted here as saying she thinks Google is testing the market as well as managing expectation. It is wholly possible that a product such as this will come to market, she says, but it’s not possible to say when or who will make it first.

Alternate options

It isn’t realistic to think that Google is the only company working on alternate reality glasses.

This view is reinforced by an announcement reported by Bloomberg only last week by eyewear brand Oakley that it too is working on alternate reality glasses and has been for the last 15 years.

It has over 600 patents in relation to the technology – and, interestingly, wouldn’t be opposed to licensing those patents.

Oakley is no stranger to integrating technology into its glasses. In 2004 it released sunglasses with an inbuilt MP3 player. While not a big hit, the Thump line of glasses is apparently profitable.

Could a collaboration between Google and Oakley be the key to success? Given that we’re all very particular about how we look, it may well be the style factor, rather than the tech factor, that makes or breaks the reality of Google Goggles.

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Updated 16/5/2012 – Bill Slawski talks about how Google are granted 3 Design patents for this!