Vuzix Corporation (NASDAQ: VUZI), (“Vuzix” or, the “Company”), a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce that the Company has delivered vastly enhanced vision or “new” sight to a Pennsylvania-area high school student via its Vuzix’ M300 Smart Glasses.
The recipient of the Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses solution was Portage Area Junior-Senior High School student Alyssa Baxter. Baxter was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, a condition in which many of the person’s optic nerves are undeveloped, and, in order to read or write, the person must move their face a nose-length away from the paper or computer screen. However, despite her faulty vision, Baxter is an avid reader and is handwriting her first book. “You’d be surprised at how bad some books smell,” Alyssa said half-jokingly.
In several classrooms, the school district has installed desktop-sized camera-monitor rigs so that Alyssa can see what’s happening in the front of the room; however, it’s been financially impractical to place the units in all the building’s rooms. The Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses installed with Cyber Eyez, a visual aid software application from CyberTimez offers a number of features that Baxter and others with visual impairments could find useful, including read-aloud text, object and color recognition, barcode scanning for product recognition, and even a “mood ring” setting that allows the wearer to know someone’s expression.
Baxter is especially looking forward to utilizing the Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses, which will allow her to zoom in to read text up to a 15x magnification. The ultimate goal is for the Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses to replace the bulky classroom set-ups and enable Baxter and others to see better either near or far, anywhere they go. The Cyber Eyez Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses package sold directly to consumers and American veterans by CyberTimez for $2,297.00 was fully paid for and provided to Alyssa by Vuzix Corporation as a donation.
Portage’s Director of Special Education, Pete Noel, watched as Baxter received the device and instructions on its use. “A lot of us need glasses. Without them, how would we get by?” said Noel. “Imagine what a challenge it is for people like Alyssa who have severe vision problems? I’m really excited to see if these glasses help, if they can eliminate some barriers for her and other students.”
Alyssa’s mother Lacey Benton commented, “We have a lot to learn about it (the glasses and software), but the thing that has me most excited for Alyssa is that they’ll make her more independent, particularly being able to see things at a distance no matter where she is. She won’t be tied to a desktop viewer.”
Vuzix Chief Operating Officer and long-term Pennsylvania resident Paul Boris was on hand for the event on Tuesday and added, “The combination of ergonomic and functional smart glasses like the Vuzix M300 combined with the right software application provides a solution that is commercially available today that can deliver sight to visually impaired individuals like Alyssa Baxter, and the entire team is excited that we can help in some way.”
About Vuzix Corporation
Vuzix is a leading supplier of Smart-Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets. The Company’s products include personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable high-quality viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and virtual and augmented reality. Vuzix holds 59 patents and 42 additional patents pending and numerous IP licenses in the Video Eyewear field. The Company has won Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) awards for innovation for the years 2005 to 2018 and several wireless technology innovation awards among others. Founded in 1997, Vuzix is a public company (NASDAQ: VUZI) with offices in Rochester, NY, Oxford, UK and Tokyo, Japan.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
Certain statements contained in this news release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward looking statements contained in this release relate to performance of the M300 to function as a vision enhancement tool, and among other things, the Company’s leadership in the Video Eyewear and AR display industry. They are generally identified by words such as “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “should” and similar expressions. Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are based upon the Company’s beliefs and assumptions as of the date of this release. The Company’s actual results could differ materially due to risk factors and other items described in more detail in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Annual Reports and MD&A filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian securities regulators (copies of which may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.
