Smart Glasses with purpose not pose – Epson Moverio BT-200

Look, I think the idea of smart glasses is great, but frankly, having seen a stack of people walking around with Google Glass on these last few days I’ve concluded that you look ridiculous.  Sorry, it’s that simple.  So what is the future for this “space”.  Epson have had a clunky solution also for some time, and today announced the new slimmer version with purpose.

When I tested the original Epson Moverio glasses I was impressed, but disappointed.  Huge things, Clunky, Hard to use “tablet” for control.  Today’s release is a huge leap forward for Epson.

The concept is the same, full frame glasses with a projected screen in front of your eyes overlaying information from a cable connected tablet or controller.

This version is so much slimmer you don’t look crazy with them on – although you would walking down the street.  The controller is simplified and more responsive and there is a clear use case put to market.  Work or Play.

Gaming is an area ripe for the picking when it comes to virtual reality.  So when a game is made to appear in your real world vision and you interact with it it becomes immersive and a whole load of fun.  Already some games are available to demo this technology and it really can be fun.  But again, you’re not sitting on the train playing these games ok?

Work wise the idea of video tutorials in augmented reality space means something complex like re-assembling a motor could be made easier with step by step video instructions overlayed onto the real-world environment.

Unfortunately no news on pricing or availability for Australia until “later in the year” – until then we will watch with interest the applications that are developed for the Epson Moverio BT-200’s