What happens when some American Football equipment developers watch too much Iron Man and live in Rochester, NY? They come up with the GoRout in helmet HUD that aids practice on several levels.
There exist HUD solutions for other sport venues like skiing and bicycling thanks to Recon Instruments and others, but this is the first in-helmet HUD that actually projects onto the visor instead of being a ‘look around’ display. American Football has a very strong strategic aspect, requiring rehearsing plays over and over again. This is where this new product hopes to score. The in helmet HUD shows the wearer how the play is supposed to look as well as having an in-helmet camera allowing the coach to observe what the player is seeing and how he reacts.
Source: GoRout In-Helmet HUD
The device has a HD (1280×720) resolution, 8h of battery life, and a 4MP instant on video camera that allows the coach to view a live stream on his master tablet. The device is extremely rugged (military grade IP68) and reacts to voice commands.
The device will be ready for the 2017 football season, shipping in the Fall of 2017. The firm did not mention a price during the product announcement, but assured that the device will work with a variety of helmets without requiring any changes to the helmets themselves. They also mentioned that all of their products are being designed and manufactured in Rochester, NY
Analyst Comment
While American Football is certainly not the center of the universe unless you talk to most males in the USA, this is just another example of what the augmented reality technology promises to bring to the world. The technology may widen the horizon of almost everything we do in the future. While I am using the term augmented reality in relation to this device, I am pretty certain that this is more like today’s HUD in the car than a real augmented reality system. Based on the video they provided in the product announcement, it seems that they just overlay the play plan on the screen. In other words the system does not line up the player’s planned route with the route he takes on the real field. Well, they do need to develop something new for the next version I assume. (NH)
