Augmented Reality Experts Say Google Glasses Video Is Over-Hyped

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:38:38 +0000

This past week Google released a demo video of Google Glasses, an augmented reality project in the Google X Labs. The video showed an individual wearing glasses where the lenses would show him icons, maps, and other overlays. However the Google Glasses in the video were not really glasses because they lacked full lenses and it involved small rectangular pieces of glass hovering over the right eye of the person wearing them.

The hardware in the photos of the video does not appear to be capable of delivering the same augmented reality experience in the video. Pranav Mistry, an MIT Media Lab researcher that is famous for his TED Talks speech about the SixthSense wearable computing system said “The small screen seen in the photos cannot give the experience the video is showing.”

Georgia Tech’s director of the Augmented Environment Labs Blair MacIntyre agreed with Mistry. “You could not do AR with a display like this. The small field of view, and placement off to the side, would result in an experience where the content is rarely on the display and hard to discover and interact with. But it’s a fine size and structure for a small head-up display.”

The Project Glass video is a concept video, but MacIntyre believes Google may have created a level of over-hype and over-expectations that their hardware cannot live up to. Another issue is that a display that shows overlaid graphics may perform find indoors, but when walking outside in the brightness, the imagery would be washed out.

MIT Students Develop Sixth Sense Wearable Gadget

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:19:37 +0000

A couple of MIT geniuses have put together a gesture-based project at the Media Lab. The Fluid Interfaces Group within the Media Labs developed a wearable computing device that feeds you information based on what you are looking at. For example, the above video shows a student looking at a book and it automatically pulls up the reviews. The project is called the Sixth Sense and it was built with about $350 worth of goods.

The team used a web cam, a battery-powered projector with a small mirror. There is also a necklace that communicates with a cell phone to pull the information for the goods that are looked at. The Sixth Sense gadget was put together by Fluid Interfaces Group founder and MIT associate professor Pattie Maes along with MIT grad student Pranav Mistry.

There are many everyday uses for the Sixth Sense. Using the gadget you can make phone calls by projecting a keypad on your hand. Maps can be called up on a wall and you can zoom in and zoom out as well as pan around. By gesturing a square, you can take a picture and project them onto other surfaces. Reading experiences can be enhanced by calling related videos to an article or book that you are reading. Flight status updates and gate change announcements can be called up by having the system recognize your airline boarding pass. The limits are endless with the Sixth Sense.

[via Engadget/PCW]

Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Pranav Mistry

Augmented Reality Experts Say Google Glasses Video Is Over-Hyped

MIT Students Develop Sixth Sense Wearable Gadget