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Another AR headset startup closes its doors
Augmented reality filters are popping up everywhere -- from the NFL's partnership with Snapchat to YouTube's beauty filters for creators. But AR headsets seem to be struggling. Today, TechCrunch reports that another well-funded AR headset startup is shutting down. Daqri, the company behind the Android-powered smart hard hat, has closed its headquarters, laid off employees and plans to sell its assets.
Here's an Intel-powered smart hard hat with thermal vision
Intel loves putting its sensors and chips in places you might not expect them, and its latest is the DAQRI smart hard-hat. In a brief demo onstage during its media briefing company CEO Brian Krzanich trotted out DAQRI founder Brian Mullins to show off the future of the hard hat, one with a built-in camera and what looks like an AR display to see how to redirect the flow in a complex plumbing setup, for instance. Or, you could even use thermal vision to detect potential problems that you wouldn't see without the wireless helmet; the wire in the image up above is a camera feed to show the audience what the wearer saw. Cool! If you want to score one of these for yourself (for all your Robocop fantasies), Mullins said they're shipping the revision to "tier one partners" today.
Android-powered smart hard hat comes with augmented reality features
In Los Angeles, a startup called Daqri has designed a different kind of hard hat: an Android-powered one that's capable of augmented reality. As such, it really looks more like a bike helmet than a hard hat, equipped with sensors, cameras and a transparent visor that functions as a head-up display. Unlike Google Glass that was designed with all kinds of consumers in mind, though, this high-tech hat was meant for industrial environments, to be used by engineers or blue-collar workers. It can show instructions and other digital elements superimposed against real-world equipment and objects without having to be manually operated. The hat can also give out early warning signals in case it catches anything that could be dangerous, or perform thorough quality checks on expensive machinery like satellites. If needed, it can pair up with smartwatches, phones and other devices, as well.
