The Osterhout Design Group, which has been making high-end night-vision goggles for years, has begun shipping its R-7 augmented reality glasses for enterprise applications. The $2,750 smartglasses are a sign of things to come, as the company eventually hopes to bring the technology to the masses at consumer prices.
Augmented reality is expected to become a $150 billion market by 2020, according to tech advisor Digi-Capital. But first, it has to become cheaper, lighter, and otherwise more practical. The R-7 represents ODG’s best trade-off between capability and cost. The company is showing the R-7 at the 2016 International CES, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week.
The ODG R-7 shows heads-up display images on the inside of the lenses, so you can see stereoscopic 3D or other animated imagery on top of objects in the real world. The company is targeting applications in health care, energy, transportation, warehouse, logistics, and government.
Cool stuff coming, an in work process since late 80’s for Augmented Reality to finally get to this level of hardware and materials development along with software applications such as a HUD (Heads Up Display) or MFD (Multifunction Display) for WingX or Foreflight, integrated aircraft instruments, GPS, Drone vision or your car, motorcycle, boats, logistics type finding stuff in warehouses, maintenance on just about anything and security personnel such as cops or combat troops.
The Army started using this concept with their tank training programs sometime in the late 80’s on CRT’s and in simulators now, this has some real potential!
Jere Brinkley