Google Glass ancestors: 45 years of digital eyewear (photos)

Google Glass is just the latest in the long history of glasses designed to augment human life. We have pictures showing the evolution of digital eyewear from 1968 through 2013, most of which were on display at the Augmented Reality Expo.

Dan Farber June 7, 2013 6:46 a.m. PT

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1968: Ivan Sutherland's Sword of Damocles

The Sword of Damocles was the precursor to all the digital eyewear and virtual reality applications. The head-mounted display was created in 1968 by University of Utah scientist Ivan Sutherland and his student Bob Sproull.

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Digital Glass pioneer Steve Mann with EyeTap Digital Eye Glass

Steve Mann is considered the father of digital eyewear and what he calls "mediated" reality. He is a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto and an IEEE senior member, and also serves as chief scientist for the augmented reality startup, Meta.

Mann is wearing his wearing his EyeTap Digital Eye Glass from 1999. An EyeTap is worn in front of the eye, recording what is available to the eye and superimposing the view as digital imagery. It uses a beam splitter to send the same scene to both the eye and a camera, and is tethered to a computer worn to his body in a small pack.

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1980: Steve Mann's WearComp 1

The WearComp 1, built by Steve Mann in 1980, cobbled together many devices to create visual experience. It included an antenna to communicate wirelessly and share video. From the collection of Steve Mann.

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Two augmented reality pioneers: Columbia University's Steven Feiner and the University of Toronto's Steve Mann

Steven Feinberg (left), a professor of computer science at Columbia University, created the first outdoor mobile augmented reality system using a see-through display in 1996. Steve Mann, a professor at University of Toronto, has been developing digital eyewear for more than 35 years.

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1984: Steve Mann's WearComp 4

The WearComp 4 dates from the same year that Apple's Macintosh was first shipped and the publication of William Gibson's science fiction novel, "Neuromancer," in which humans are augmented via computer implants. Mann's WearComp 4 employed clothing-based signal processing, a personal imaging system with left eye display, and separate antennas for simultaneous voice, video, and data communication. From the collection of Steve Mann.

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1989: Reflection Technology's The Private Eye

The Private Eye head-mounted display scanned a vertical array of LEDs across the visual field using a vibrating mirror. The monochrome screen is 1.25-inches on the diagonal, but images appear to be a 15-inch display at 18-inches distance. From the collection of Steven Feiner.

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1998: Digital Eye Glass EyeTap Augmediated Reality Goggles

Steve Mann's obsession with digital eyewear began in his childhood, after being taught to weld by his grandfather. He was fascinated by the idea of seeing the unseen while welding, and using video cameras, displays, and computers to alter the view in real time. From the collection of Steve Mann.

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2000: MicroOptical's TASK-9

MicroOptical was founded in 1995 by Mark Spitzer, who is now a director at the Google X lab. The company ceased operations in 2010, but the patents have been acquired by Google.

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2005: MicroVision's Nomad Digital Display

MicroVision is now working with automotive suppliers to develop laser heads-up displays to provide information to drivers in their field of vision.

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2005: Vuzix V920

The V920 was developed by Vuzix in 2005. The publicly-traded company has been developing video eyewear for 15 years and has dozens of patents on the technology. From the collection of Paul Travers.

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2008: MyVu Personal Media Viewer, Crystal Edition

MyVu's Personal Media Viewers hooked up to external video sources, such as an iPod, to provide the illusion of watching the content on a large screen from several feet away. From the collection of Dan Cui.

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2009: Vuzix Wrap SeeThru Proto

Wrap SeeThru was developed by Vuzix in 2009. The publicly traded company has been developing video eyewear for 15 years and has dozens of patents on the technology. From the collection of Paul Travers.

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2010: VISCOM

MyVu's ViSCOM digital eyewear from 2010. The company that developed the technology, MicroOptical, was founded in 1995 by Mark Spitzer, who is now the director of operations at Google X. From the collection of Dan Cui.

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2011: Vuzix WrapAR 920

The WrapAR 920 was developed by Vuzix in 2011. The publicly traded company has been developing video eyewear for 15 years and has dozens of patents on the technology. From the collection of Paul Travers.

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2013: Meta protoype for developers

Unlike Google Glass, Meta's eyewear enters 3D space and uses your hands to interact with the virtual world. The Meta system includes stereoscopic 3D glasses and a 3D camera to track hand movements, similar to the portrayals of gestural control in movies like "Iron Man" and "Avatar." Meta expects to have more fashionable glasses in 2014.

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2013: Google Glass

Steve Mann believes that Google Glass can create eye strain. He wrote, "Google Glass and several similarly configured systems now in development suffer from another problem I learned about 30 years ago that arises from the basic asymmetry of their designs, in which the wearer views the display through only one eye. These systems all contain lenses that make the display appear to hover in space, farther away than it really is."

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Lifelogging wearables from 1998 to 2013

Wearable computers extends to orbs with camera for lifelogging and other applications. From left an camera orb from Steve Mann's lab, circa 1998; Microsoft's Sensecam from 2004; and Memoto's 2013 lifelogging camera.