What They Say
FoundersLegal spotted a patent awarded to Facebook for an AR hat, that was filed originally in 2019. By moving the display away from a glasses format, weight and heat can be more widely spread for better comfort. It could also connect to smartphones and other haptic devices.
What We Think
While the ‘buggy whip’ industry is often quoted in business schools as an industry that became redundant, in large parts of the western world, hats have gone from being socially mandatory in to being quite unusual outside some formal events. I don’t see this development as actually making any impact on augmented reality adoption. Moving the optics away from the eye seems like a bad idea to me. Moving mass to the front of the visor would run the risk of adding rotational inertia and also allow movement independent of the eye. As an example, I use a very small mirror when I’m cycling. Putting it on the helmet makes it almost unusable, whereas clipping it to my cycling glasses keeps the motion much closer to my eye and is much more useful. (BR)
