A smartwatch should always be able to tell the time then build off of that basic functionality. By extension, smartglasses should always help improve the user’s vision first and foremost. NuEyes and Osterhout Design Group (ODG) agree.
Today these two companies are announcing availability of a new pair of smartglasses born out of a partnership to release such a device that will help restore eyesight for many of the millions that find it fading. NuEyes itself is an Orange County-based company that creates tech for the visually impaired, while ODG is located in San Francisco as a tech incubator, and works on wearable devices. Together the two are working on a pair of ODG R-7 smartglasses that use augmented reality to help enhance the user’s vision both in and out of the home.
As explained in the video above, the R-7 mainly aims to help those that suffer from macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness across the globe, along with other conditions. The kit boasts an adjustable HD magnification camera that can be used through voice commands and delivers HD, stereoscopic 3D images at 60fps on a pair of 720p lenses.
It the case of the video, it’s used to make text in a book smaller but also lines of music bigger, letting the wearer play the piano. The Android-based device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor that runs a custom operating system named ReticleOS. It’s also untethered and wi-fi connected, allowing the wearer to also access emails and browse the web. Then there’s on-board buttons for more control, a trackpad, 64GB of storage, USB input for charging, removable ear horns and more.
Anyone in the US interested in the glasses should call (800) 605-4033, or visit its official website.
While smartglasses might not be a hot topic after Google backpedalled on Google Glass a few years ago, cases such as this prove that they still have an important role to play. Mixed reality devices like HoloLens and Magic Leap are expanding on the basic functions of these glasses in amazing ways, but they’d do well to remember what the R-7 remembers; that glasses are meant to help improve your sight.
