Vuzix Wrap 920AR glasses: Next-wave specs
The opposite sex may not like specs but, with the Vuzix augmented-reality glasses, you'll be too busy to care
Lasses don't make passes at boys who wear glasses, but cheer up, four-eyes: with the Vuzix Wrap 920AR augmented-reality glasses, you'll be lost in your own little world.
The AR glasses include a camera over each eye, and screens inside that play back the image to your eyeballs. When the glasses recognise augmented-reality markers, they add gaming elements to what you see in front of you. The game being show off at CES echoed those old pinball games where you tilt the toy and attempt to navigate a ball around a maze. We held up a board covered with AR markers, but what we saw was what you can see on the screen behind our friendly model: a 3D maze that reacted when we tilted and moved the board.
Here's the board containing the AR markers. This game is limited to this board, but AR markers could be placed anywhere to create an immersive environment.
The advantage of the glasses over, say, Layar on your phone is that you wouldn't have to hold your handset in front of you as you move through your augmented reality. Sadly, we found the Vuzix glasses rather unwieldy, especially when worn over our NHS goggles. We'll wait for the contact lenses.