Binocular SMART Glasses
Venture businesses, national research centers, and universities in Korea are making an effort to develop their own smart glasses. The wearable computing device is expected to be showcased as early as the end of this year, and thus it will be possible to commercialize the device in the near future.
According to industry sources on March 17, Elentec, Kiwiple, Mobinetpia, the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), Korea University, and Hongik University are all working together on a development project for an open source smart glasses platform that enables smart vision. The project was launched in 2012, with a target completion date of Feb. 2015.
The smart glasses project transparent overlays of digital content onto the real world in the center of the smart glasses’ field of view. Unlike monocular Google Glass, which projects images in front of one of the wearer’s eyes, binocular smart glasses can be used in many areas, even though it is much more difficult to develop the needed technology. Different from a monocular display, a binocular display enables wearers to watch movies or videos.
Equipped with a camera, this product reportedly can recognize objects in real-time, and features location-based services and augmented reality functions. It also has face detection and fingerprint recognition. For example, when users see or point to a fast food restaurant with their smart glasses on, information about the place or event information is reflected on the screen.
Experts anticipate that the completion of this project could lead to an advance in smart glasses-making technology in the nation. An official at ETRI said, “Currently, our smart glasses are designed in a clunky way. But the application of System-on-a-chip (SoC) technology in the latter half of this year will make it possible to unveil a commercialization-ready product.”
Previously, a Korean research team led by Yoo Hoi-jun, professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, announced that he successfully developed K-Glass, with a built-in augmented reality (AR) processor.
Meanwhile, Google is conducting beta testing to commercialize its AR glasses this year. Sony, on the other hand, revealed a prototype of its Smart Eyeglass at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in Jan. Epson recently announced that it will introduce the Moverio BT-200 smart glasses in Korea as well.
Korean tech giants are also interested in wearable smart glasses. Samsung Electronics filed a design patent for smart glasses, while LG Electronics filed a trademark application for G Glass.