Osterhout Design Group (ODG) has revealed its R-7 smart glasses, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC. According to its makers, the R-7 will be “the first fully integrated head-worn computing systems; with 3-D, see-through, augmented reality (AR), which will deliver immersive experiences right to the user’s eyes.”
ODG believes that the glasses can entirely replace other personal devices. Instead of taking a tethered approach, such as those used by smart watches, the R-7 is supposed to operate completely independently of other devices. The standalone glasses run ReticleOS (a forked framework of Android Kit Kat 4.4.3).
Unlike Google Glass, which is a small screen that sits above one eye, the R-7 resembles a chunky pair of sunglasses – with hefty frames and legs to contain the necessary circuitry and batteries, which even includes a heatsink on the top of the lenses. The unit weighs 156g (5.5oz), and the entire VR and AR experience is meant to be viewed through both lenses simultaneously.
These are a full-sized pair of glasses, which use two lenses to overlay a stereoscopic 3D display over the real world viewed through the lenses. Prescription lenses can be inserted into the frames, for those who need them, and integrated ear buds will provide the audio for the device.
ODG claims the R-7 can replicate photorealistic images through its proprietary system (which includes the computing, sensor and power delivery tasks) on a pair of 1280x720p elements overlaid on the lenses themselves. The display will run at a 16:9 resolution, which doesn’t sound particularly immersive (although admittedly we haven’t worn them to find out), however, the image can be run at 100 frames per second – certainly fast enough for a high-quality visual experience.
This means that a “seamless and real-time overlay of 3D, photorealistic graphics, video and annotations” can be displayed on top of the real-world view, which ODG is currently targeting at industrial applications – a little like Daqri, who integrated a HUD into a construction helmet to provide real-time data and overlays in an industrial work environment.
The 28nm quad-core Snapdragon 805 in the R-7 is clocked at 2.7GHz, with 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16-128GB of internal flash storage. The Adreno 420 GPU will handle the graphics processing, and a Hexagon V50 DSP will process the images captured from the R-7’s camera. The glasses use three accelerometers, three gyroscopic sensor and three magnetometer sensors, alongside a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor and an ambient light meter. Connectivity is handled by the Snapdragon’s 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS/GLONASS satellite positioning.
A magnetic connector delivers power to the rechargeable 1400mAH batteries, which should provide several hours usage of the glasses at full throttle. A HD camera is centered in the middle of the glasses, to capture the images that will be displayed on the lenses. ODG supplies its ReticleOS SDK to developers, with a hardware dev kit due for a Q4 release. Qualcomm’s Vuforia SDK is also integrated into the ReticleOS SDK,
“ODG is focused on revolutionizing wearable technology and developing innovative and sophisticated situational awareness, security and first-responder solutions,” said Ralph Osterhout, ODG’s CEO. “These smart glasses are designed to deliver an unparalleled ability in head-worn computing, with innumerable applications for government and industry – to increase productivity, accuracy and security in day-to-day usage.”
ODG’s R-6 glasses are currently nearing the end of their beta testing, and will be shipping to government customers by the end of the year. The R-6s are slightly less fully-specced than their bigger brothers, but are a very similar design and implementation of the standalone smart glasses. The R-7s will target industrial and governmental buyers initially, shipping by the second quarter of 2015. As you may have guessed, they are not cheap. The expected price is $5,000.
ODG is privately held, and was founded in 1999 in San Francisco.