hermeslegor: Vuzix designs Smart Glasses to look like plastic sunshades, sport connected transparent display

Friday, January 6, 2012

Vuzix designs Smart Glasses to look like plastic sunshades, sport connected transparent display

Vuzix has announced plans to develop a stylish head-mounted display solution in the form of Smart Glasses, through a licensing partnership with Nokia. The yet-unnamed product would integrate a bright, high-contrast display that's integrated with a pair of ordinary-looking sunglasses -- sounds like a perfect companion to the ZionEyez in-glasses camera prototype we saw last month. In Vuzix's words:

This amazing new technology starts with a compact display engine capable of hi contrast and brightness for outdoor use. The output is then relayed into a 1.4 mm thick plastic waveguide lens with input and output hologram structures on the surface which squeezes the light down the waveguide and then two dimensionally expands the image back into the user's eye, creating an image that is then mixed into the real world.

Naturally, the company envisions its Smart Glasses solution as a web-connected device, letting you watch videos or browse the internet while still being able to see-and-avoid pedestrians as you walk on the sidewalk or obstacles while behind the wheel -- try doing that with a Kindle or smartphone (better yet, please don't). Vuzix expects its Smart Glasses solution to start appearing as early as this summer, but we'll be getting an early look next week at CES.

Gallery: Vuzix SMART Glasses Technology