Future Technology 500

In life, vision is everything and it’s only when we start to notice reductions in our vision that we realize just how important it can be. That’s why the introduction of a host of exciting new visual aids for Oxfordshire residents are so exciting. The people of Oxfordshire are being asked to try out new smart glasses made by a company based in Oxford called OXSIGHT.

The glasses are developed by a team of scientific experts and clinical experts who have worked on visual aids in the past. The are expected to provide a meaningful improvement to those with central vision loss and can also help people to recognize faces, deal with tasks close at hand, and enjoy day-to-day tasks such as reading. These glasses will provide those who wear them with an enhanced visual experience relative to what they can enjoy without aids.

The aim is to help those with sight loss to start seeing a small amount once again. This works by providing a projected, magnified live stream from a small central-mounted camera that are on the screens in front of the eye. The latest model, the OXSIGHT Onyx, is expected to help those with central and general field vision loss greatly.

A new vision for Oxford visual limitations

The company, though, needs people to help test them out in the field – and they are actively looking for help and support in making that so. Testing sessions will be taking place throughout August, with tests on both the 25^th and 26^th, providing those with macular conditions a chance to try out the treatment for free.

The company has found that 100% of users so far have found facial recognition to be easier, while 75% said they could read better than without the glasses. With Oxford one of the cities in the UK with the highest risk of avoidable sight loss, OXSIGHT got into action to come up with a solution to what is a growing local and nationwide problem.

The CEO of OXSIGHT, Dr. Rakesh Roshan, said: “We believe that 75-percent of people with central vision loss will benefit from these cutting-edge smart glasses, especially due to the further isolation caused by Covid-19. The feedback we’ve received is that Onyx is life-changing because it gives people back their independence. To people with degenerative eye disease, that is invaluable.”

As it stands, then, these could be the next step forward in creating visual aids that can actively improve the lives of so many people. It’s a hard thing to get right, but for centuries we have wrestled with visual aids that can minimize the impact and risk of blindness. With smart technology providing us with so many opportunities, this might be the most innovative addition to the industry in some time.

Citation

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18653494.oxsight-launch-new-smart-glasses-oxfordshire-residents-test/

Okay, so I guess I’m projecting too much into the future here. I wanted to educate myself about wearable, computerized eye spectacles so I looked up “Smart Glasses for Dummies” and there isn’t a book like this written, yet (and of course there is no Idiots guide as well).

Atheer One Smart Glasses

There are several manufacturers right now researching, testing and releasing to the public augmented reality, computerized eye glasses. Perhaps the most notable is Google Glass which has been release to some tech-savvy types recently.

But, there is another new player in town, Atheer One. This wearable technology was created by a couple of Lebanese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, California. One advantage that Atheer One has over Google glass is that it displays augmented reality in 3D instead of 2d.

According to wamda.com, “A Lebanese entrepreneur and his cofounder have just debuted a pair of wearable glasses that displays augmented reality in three dimensions as opposed to Google’s two.

“The glasses, built by Soulaiman Itani and Allen Yang at Atheer Labs in Mountain View, bring fantasies to life, allowing wearers to exercise with virtual targets, conduct conferences calls while browsing data online, and play three dimensional games, thanks to hand sensors and an advanced algorithm.

“Those who were wowed by Pranav Mistry’s TED Talk about Sixth Sense technology will likely go gaga for Atheer, which also offers a 65 degree field of view as opposed to Google’s 12 degree frame in the corner of one’s view.”

Atheer has a crowd-funding campaign going on right now (and a cool video). They need to raise $100,000 and so far have raised over $70,000 towards their goal.

As I now walk around my house saying to myself “where are my dumb glasses?” in less than a few years, my smart glasses will surely be communicating with other smart wearable devices about the dumb human wearing them. Perhaps it is my fate to invent the first Smart Ass Glasses which will be a great hit, I’m sure, around April Fool’s Day.