As technology’s implementation has diluted its way into our everyday lives, it’s hard to consider objects that haven’t been converted by technology. If we consider mundane items such as pens, they have also been given a technology injection, transforming them into intelligent pieces of tech.
For example, Anoto Pen, a pen integrated with technology, is able to convert handwriting on paper into digital text. Thanks to the implementation of technology developments, we can work, collaborate, and communicate like never before.
Smart wearables have become all the rage in current civilization and have become a big part of development moving forward. Technological evolution moves us towards better living and working ways, making our time more effective thanks to efficient tools, giving it a vast market share.
One of the most significant smart wearable today is smartwatches, as evident from the above image. Smartwatches go way beyond the capability of telling us the time. They behave as health monitors and secondary smartphones. A natural progression and advancement in technology have helped birth a range of other wearables, including smart glasses.
What are smart glasses?
Smart glasses are wearables worn like glasses on the face and around the eyes. However, they are built with numerous technologies that allow them to carry out an array of tasks far beyond regular glasses’ capabilities. The glass, or sometimes the screen, where the user looks out from, can offer a range of digital metrics. Some even come with built-in cameras to allow the user to take pictures, sending them straight to a smart device paired to the glasses via Bluetooth.
Over the years, Google has been one organization that took a few stabs at getting on board with designing smart glasses to help revolutionize the working world. Their first model glasses housed Google Glass and were named ‘The Explorer,’ released in 2013. Unfortunately, they received bad press, and so they went back to the drawing board.
In 2019, Google released a second version of the Google Glass named ‘Enterprise Edition 2’ with an in-depth focus on its use in the mainstream working environment. This includes its use by Boeing engineers, allowing workers to see vital wiring diagrams while assembling components of an aircraft to avoid mistakes and human error. They have then gone on to be implemented in various sectors, including Manufacturing, Logistics, and Health.
The glasses feature a camera with an 8-megapixel color sensor, a touch gesture touchpad, a mono speaker, LED elements, and much more. They provide users with glanceable, voice-activated assistants and are designed to be lightweight and comfortable for everyday use.
However, Google’s latest acquisition of North, a wearables computing company, tells us that Google has not given up hope and instead, is investing money into their smart glasses concept in the hope to take it to a mainstream level.
North has independently developed and released smart glasses of their own, which they call ‘Foclas’. This means that not only does Google now have unrestricted access to the technologies used by North, but they can combine technologies across the two organizations to develop a wearable that can become a real smart glasses contender.
Will people use smart glasses?
Emerging technological developments have helped to introduce new technologies creating pivotal shifts in society. Today, technology is second nature, transforming culture and business, creating ambitions that are able to merge with the expected evolution of man.
This leads to new devices becoming a natural part of progression in society. For example, self-checkouts at superstores have become a regular part of today’s shopping experience. Here’s a look at the hype cycle of emerging technologies.
With this in mind, it creates a tipping point for products to fly off the shelves when sold at the right price and in a timely manner. There are four main influences that spread the adoption of new technologies. These include the innovation and invention itself, the communication channels it is shared on, the launch’s timing, and the social and economic state of the current system.
The adoption of previous wearables by society tells us that people will definitely use smart glasses, especially when they can be useful in the working environment to aid with daily tasks. However, there is a range of wearables that are in the pipeline waiting to transform our everyday lives.
Google is developing and testing smart contact lenses that continuously measure glucose levels in tears of people with diabetes. Sony has recently filed a patent to create a contact lens that houses a tiny camera allowing the user to record what they see.
Samsung has also been granted permission on a patent in Korea to develop a contact lens that can be used in combination with augmented reality. With these promising new developments in wearables, who wouldn’t want to wear them.
