When we listen to the CEOs and visionaries of the technical world, we recognize that augmented reality (AR) is an important part of future tech products.
One the one hand we have companies like Apple and Google developing software platforms to enable future consumer apps. This suggests to me that Apple and Google do not know what consumers are looking for in their AR experience. At the same time other companies (also possibly the same companies) are developing hardware that allow these apps to run on a head mounted display devices.
In the past, we saw pushback from consumers against the Google Glass product. As a general consensus, Google Glass was at least social awkward and seen as not acceptable in any social setting. Of course, there were also other issues with the device, such as the limited optical capabilities and the bulky prism dominating the outer look of the device. To be frank, it is not clear to me what led to the downfall of Google Glass as a consumer product, but Google saw enough backlash to pull the product and switch the internal management team.
Since then several companies have been developing AR glasses to achieve the Google Glass idea with better and more advanced technology. All of them seem to be following the same paradigm of adding as many features as you can, while limiting the AR headset form factor to something that can still be worn on the head. The results are not really that encouraging. Functions like wide field of view, camera and high resolution require significant real estate for the components and especially the battery. The larger the feature set, the larger the battery, you get the idea. Making the glasses bulky to the point of becoming a device of a sci-fi movie rather something you would wear going to the supermarket.
Intel has been developing a new approach that was outlined to an online blog, recently (Intel Planning to Launch AR Smart Glasses This Year – subscription required) Intel’s New Devices Group (NDG) has changed the paradigm to ‘what can we fit into real glasses today and forget all other features’. As a result the ‘Vaunt’, as Intel calls its device, looks like real glasses and limits the features to a monochrome heads-up display. They are using a VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) that shines red light to the inside of the lens that contains some holographic elements to reflect the light into the users eye. They state that the light emission from the laser is do small that they fall at the lower end of a class 1 laser device.
Credits: The Verge – Intel Made Smart Glasses That Look Normal (Dieter Bohn)
There is no obvious input of any kind and the whole thing is basically a second screen for the users’ smartphone. Wearing these glasses and having an app running that provides the information for the smart glasses gives you a stream of information ‘lasered’ directly into your eye. A very interesting, while somewhat limiting concept. On the other hand, if the people claiming social awkwardness as the main culprit for Google Glasses downfall are correct, this could resurrect the viability of head worn display devices.
From a technical perspective, Intel claims that all the processors driving this display within the given form factor are in-house developments and that this is the only way to achieve this miniature form factor. The VCSEL driven projector seems to create an image in the neighborhood of 400 x 150 pixels. The benefit of a laser driven projector is that the image is always in focus independent of prescription or non-prescription lenses. In addition the optical design allows you completely ignore the incoming information stream by just looking straight. You will only see the data stream if you glance down (in the Google Glass you had to look up).
Similar to Google’s Explorer Program , Intel plans to launch their own early access program for developers later this year. Then we can see what the developers come up with and when these glasses will be actually coming to the market.
While The Verge asked Intel why they are developing such a device (the answer was basically that only Intel could do it), the remaining question is if Intel will be actually entering the consumer device market with the ‘Vaunt’ or if this will just be a reference design. So far, Intel has stayed pretty much out of the consumer market and axed a large portion of its wearable products group in 2017. So why this soft release (there is no official Intel press release on the Vaunt) now?
If this concept interests you and you want to learn a little more about ‘The Verge’s day at Intel NDG’, I recommend the 7 min video they posted on YouTube.
In general I am impressed with the change in the AR paradigm Intel demonstrates with the Vaunt. From a consumer perspective, this could actually be a very good starting point for making AR glasses socially acceptable. Maybe other features could be added later. The first flat screen TV didn’t come with HDR and 4K UHD either. NH
