Epson’s Moverio smart glasses upgraded – the ultimate Drone FPV goggles?

I can recall trying out the original Moverio glasses from Epson some years ago, while the world was in the grip of “Google Glass Fever” Epson was plodding away with a more usable and practical set of smart glasses not aimed at consumers but at industry.  At MWC in Barcelona they’re showing off the third generation Moverio and they look great!

Almost unrecognisable from the originals, these have been slimmed down a huge amount, while maintaining the original concept and workings of the Moverio.

Here’s the originals:

A small “black box” powers the glasses with a cable connection up to the glasses themselves.

The images are projected in front of your eyes, while still allowing you to look through and around the picture making them perfect for industrial applications like showing plans or details for workers without having to stop their work to refer to paper worksheets.

But it was the integration with a DJI Phantom drone that took my interest.

As a drone pilot the CASA rules are very strict.  You cannot fly your drone using the screen on your iPad as the only view.  You must be watching the drone at all times.

It’s tough to do if you’re trying to get a good shot for a video – this is why the DJI Inspire has a two operator mode – allowing one operator to fly the drone, the other to direct the camera.

It’s for this same reason that FPV (First person View) goggles are not a legal way to fly your hobby drone.  While drone racers might be using them in their warehouse environments, if CASA came across you at the park with the world blacked out by goggles giving you a first person view from the camera of your drone – you’re in trouble.

Enter the Epson Moverio – with these attached to your DJI controller, you can be looking up in the sky at your drone – maintaining visual reference at all times, but also see the camera output right before your eyes.  Now I’m not a lawyer so don’t take this to the bank, but my view is you’re doing everything right to stay within the regulations.

A very interesting use case and one I most certainly want to test out!

The Moverio BT-300’s are coming late in 2016, but if you’re keen – they are taking pre-orders now online.