Forget looking at the world through rose colored glasses – try these on for size. Video eyewear manufacturer Vuzix has unveiled its Wrap 920AR glasses prototype that features cameras mounted to the lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery.
The glasses incorporate a camera on each lens that captures video at a resolution of 752x480 at 60fps offering a combined image of 1504x480 which can also be viewed in stereoscopic 3D. The cameras project real-world imagery onto LCD’s inside the glasses that give the effect of watching a 67” display from ten feet away. The images are overlaid with computer generated imagery effectively creating an augmented reality.
Aside from obvious uses like gaming, the Wrap 920AR has the potential to be harnessed for education, with books “coming alive” with overlaid information, or virtual city guides, whereby a user wearing the glasses can look down a street and see particular restaurants featured. Social networking could take on a whole new level also, with users able to find “air tags” left by friends when looking at a particular street scene.
Each camera has a 1/3 of an inch wide VGA image sensor and the unit also includes a 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker which allows for absolute accuracy of roll pitch and yaw. Vuzix is planning on a release some time in Q2 of 2010 priced at around US$800, with high resolution versions currently being used by the military also in the pipeline.
Check out the pics below of Gizmag giving the Wrap 920AR a go, playing a maze game developed by a PHD student from Columbia University.
