
What it is: Nvidia demonstrated prescription smart glasses that use augmented reality to improve a person’s vision.
For many people, their only experience with augmented reality comes from games like Pokemon GO. While games can help demonstrate new technology, technology really needs a practical use before it can achieve widespread adoption. That’s why Nvidia’s recent demonstration of prescription augmented reality glasses shows the future.
The huge problem with today’s glasses is that they rely on grinding a physical lens into the proper magnification for each person’s eyes. The moment a person’s eyes change, those prescription glasses are suddenly useless and have to be thrown out and replaced with a new set of prescription glasses.
Augmented reality promises to change that. Just as smartphone cameras rely on computational photography to adjust images despite the tiny physical lenses of a smartphone camera, so can computational photography enhance images for people with faulty vision.
Instead of replacing prescription glasses every few years, an augmented reality prescription eyeglass can simply adjust the vision of each lens to adapt for a person’s changing eyesight. This allows augmented reality eyeglasses to remain useful for the life of the wearer.
Just by targeting the population that needs prescription glasses, augmented reality smart glasses could tap into a huge market. Now toss in the capability for sunglasses and night vision and you’ll suddenly have a huge market for augmented reality that offers practical and useful applications.
Augmented reality is more than just games like Pokemon GO. Augmented reality represents the future of enhanced vision. If your smartphone’s camera can do it, a pair of augmented reality smart glasses will be able to do it too.
To learn more about Nvidia’s augmented reality smart glasses, click here.