Google Glass is amazing technology with one big problem: No
one really seems to know exactly who or what it’s actually for.
Los Angeles-based startup DAQRI may be one of the first to
crack the augmented-reality market proper by targeting a specific demographic —
blue-collar workers.
The DAQRI smart helmet has been a four-year project for the
company. Founder Brian Muller says, “You just can’t solve the most challenging
problems with devices that were designed for consumers.”
For starters, it looks cool, and that’s important. Like Blundstones
and small Hard Yakka shorts. But DAQRI sees the iconic hard hat as something
else than just protection against bricks falling on your head. By loading it up
with sensors and a couple of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, suddenly you’ve
got laptop power computing at a glance.
"We consider the
user experience; what the worker would see. We had to make a display that was
there when you needed it."
"Easy to use,
intuitive, and just right for the medium."
DAQRI’s talking big. One spokesman says it’s the first time
augmented-reality technology and ideas have “come together in a product that
can change the world.”
It all looks, as one commenter suggested, like an Apple ad
for a building site. But the simplicity of the overlays, and the fact the
wearable tech looks so unobtrusive, could see DAQRI with a winner on its hands,
if everything works the way it looks in the promos.
It has 360 degrees of
camera vision and works just as effectively in low light, DAQRI claims.
This huge sensor bar across the brow handles all the
tracking and alignment tasks.
The idea is the helmet can augment information and data
directly over the top of any work environment, including live data.
It also allows users
to share the data with others in real time.
DAQRI also developed its own software IntelliTrack to work
with the device.
“No matter where you
go, it understands the context, so you can use 4D anywhere.”
The helmet, DAQRI says, holds
the most computing power ever seen in a wearable basically because of its size,
it can.
It won’t give out exact
prices, but DAQRI told The Wall Street Journal to
expect one helmet to run “into the thousands.” But given the
potential, they’re hoping that’s probably a price a lot of big companies won’t
baulk at.
When can we expect the hard
hat of the future to hit the market? Within a month, DAQRI says.
Source: Business
Insider
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