We’re more than a quarter of the way through 2012, and as you may have noticed, we have failed to acquire silver jumpsuits or jetpacks. In fact, aside from that headset in your ear, smartphone in your pocket and tablet in your purse, everything is looking quite boringly un-futuristic.
But if Google has its way, we will start wearing some very science fiction-like glasses by year’s end.
The search giant’s research arm launched a Google+ page Wednesday for Project Glass, its augmented reality glasses project. The page revealed that Google researchers have started testing the glasses, with an Android-run heads-up display, that the New York Times suggested Google will start to sell this year for roughly the cost of a regular smartphone.
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The page also contains one of those “here’s what the future will look like” videos, to explain the concept better than words can. Check it out:
Cleverly, the video’s first-person point of view dodges one of the main problems with the glasses — that you may look kind of dumb wearing them. The pictures shared on the page all show largely glass-free frames with what appears to be a projector on one side.
Think of a kind of monocular Geordi LaForge, and you’re almost there.
But it’s the look of the thing that appears to be what the researchers are interested in getting your feedback on. “We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,” reads the post from Google X employees including Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun. “What would you like to see from Project Glass?”
That’s what we’re curious about too. Let us know in the comments.
The HUD we know today evolved from the reflector sight on German planes in 1937. They allowed targeting assistance to be added to a scope for pilots to more easily aim. Eventually it incorporated displaying information such as air speed velocity and attack angle that made it easier for pilots to hit targets.
The Blackburn Buccaneer developed for the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force was the first plane with a built-in heads-up display. It was prototyped in 1958, but flew for the British from 1968 until 1994. It was a low-flying bomber that was used as late as the Gulf War.
After Britain noticed success in pilots who used a HUD, French test-pilot Gilbert Klopfstein developed the first standardized heads-up display for use in aircraft, so pilots would not have to refamiliarize themselves each time they entered a different plane. As is the case with many technologies, standardization is often the path to mainstream acceptance, as this moved HUD into wide military use.
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