EpsonMoverioBt-100
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AR firm's prototype Glass app makes you an amateur car mechanic (video)
Developer Metaio knows a thing or two about augmented reality, and building on the magic of its Audi eKurzinfo app, it's created some prototype software for Google Glass that straps a car's instruction manual to your face. Instead of relying on markers, GPS or point-cloud processing, the Glass app uses reference CAD models to identify what you're looking at and overlay directions on a 3D plane. As useful as it may be for walking you through a washer fluid refill (video after the jump), Metaio has created the app to showcase its updated AR platform that's intended to work with wearables like Epson's Moverio and the Vuzix M100, as well as Mountain View's monocle. The firm's Glass app may never progress beyond proof of concept, but those attending Metaio's annual InsideAR conference in Munich this October can look forward to a live demo.
APX Labs mods Epson Moverio headset, adds camera, mic and motion sensors for improved AR
Epson's 3D display glasses, the Moverio BT-100 have been floating around as a development platform for a couple years, and APX Labs is the latest to hack the headset. APX Labs is a software firm best known for creating Terminator Vision augmented reality tech for the US military, and it decided to use the BT-100 as a vehicle to develop and showcase a smart glasses platform it's built to work for both business and consumer applications. In order to get the functionality it needed, APX grafted a 5 megapixel camera, mic and a full suite of motion sensors to provide nine-axis head tracking onto a Moverio headset.%Gallery-187866% All that gear is shoved into a 3D-printed module and attached to the BT-100 to turn it into a pair of smart glasses. In addition to the cameras and sensors, APX also hacked an Epson daughter board onto the Moverio's controller to allow an HDMI video feed from a smartphone to be shown on the displays. This result? A system that understands where you are, what you're seeing and hearing and a UI that allows users to glean information from the world around them using voice commands and head gestures. That should sound familiar to fans of Google Glass, but by using Epson's binocular displays, these smart glasses can convey depth in a way Mountain View's monocle cannot. (Not to mention that Glass doesn't even do AR apps... yet). The hardware we got to see was a crude prototype built for demo purposes only, but the software platform shows promise and Epson's got a version two Moverio headset in the works -- so perhaps you can see a bit of the future of smart glasses in the video after the break.
Epson's video board pumps composite inputs to the Moverio BT-100 headset (video)
Bummed that your $700 Moverio BT-100 headset doesn't have video input? Well, Epson's here to tease you with a board that plugs into the trackpad and accepts any composite video source. Despite best attempts to hide the identity of hardware it's being tested with and give the lawyers a weekend off, it's shown to receive feeds from a PS3, an iPad and a 360 with Kinect. Check out the honk-filled video of all the fun you're not having, and contact Epson if you've got an interesting idea for using the board, because they might just give you one. How about -- "I want to play games on it?" That sounds like a pretty good reason to us. [Thanks, Joe]
Epson Moverio BT-100 3D goggles now shipping in the U.S. for $699
Any Americans out there wanna buy a wacky head-mounted 3D display? Then Epson's Moverio BT-100 micro-projection headset ought to be right at the top of the your not-so-long list of options. It's just started shipping in the States for $699, including its Android-powered trackpad controller that streams and navigates content on the perceived '80-inch' transparent viewing window. You could even pair the Moverio with a Parrot AR.Drone and discover what it feels like to be an Apache pilot strafing your neighbor's rabbit.
Parrot AR.Drone joins with Epson Moverio BT-100: UAV gets down with HMD (video)
Let's say you've explored all the abandoned cathedrals in your hometown and have decimated all comers on the virtual battlefield -- if your interest in the Parrot AR.Drone has begun to wane, then take a gander at this bit of handiwork from Thomas Sohmers and dream of what could be. Essentially, he's taken the popular UAV from Parrot and has combined it with a transparent, head-mounted display that allows one to simultaneously view the AR.Drone and an overlay of its video feed. More than just a set of glasses, the Epson Moverio BT-100 was ideal for the task as it also features a handheld controller that just so happens to run Android. While Sohmers has met with good success in combining the two devices, the product isn't quite ready for mass consumption -- for example, it's said the AR.Drone can only rotate and move vertically at this point. While you'll have to use a bit of your imagination for the heads-up display component, you can find a demonstration of Sohmers' creation in a video after the break.
