Vuzix announced in a press release that the Consumer Technology Association, the producer of CES 2016, has awarded the company eight CES Innovation Awards. Several are for devices aimed at consumers, such as video eyewear and VR glasses.

Vuzix iWear Wireless Awarded CES 2016 Best of Innovation Award in Gaming & Virtual Reality category (PRNewsFoto/Vuzix Corporation)

Other new models will be well suited for enterprise use cases.

The Vuzix Vidwear B3000 and Vuzix Vidwear M3000 Smart Glasses were each honored with dual CES Innovation Awards for innovative design and engineering. Unfortunately, the company has not published product information about these new models on its web site. The announcement only describes the Vuzix Vidwear B3000 as one of the world’s first sunglasses with integrated video and AR overlays.

According to the same announcement, Vuzix M3000 Smart Glasses will leverage the company’s waveguide-based wearable eyewear for enterprise. Most likely, they will be monocular and have significantly improved display resolution, ergonomics, computing power, and sensor technologies. The  announcement suggests that the see-through waveguide-based display engine in the M3000 will be optimized to deliver network-based content for Augmented Reality experiences in the workplace.

Rochester Optical, a diversified lens and frame manufacturer based in Rochester NY, develops, fabricates and delivers advanced prescription lenses and other accessories for use with smart glasses.

The company’s Smart GOLD product line is available for Google Glass, Sony SmartGlasses, Vuzix M100, Epson Moverio BT-200 and Recon Jet. By creating an additional, optimized optical center where the digital information appears in Augmented Reality view and compensating to balance binocular vision, Smart GOLD eliminates prismatic effect and off axis aberrations, providing continuous, comfortable visual acuity. These features permit those who need corrective lenses to more easily benefit from smart glasses features without wearing two pairs of glasses. The technology also reduces eyestrain and eye fatigue, allowing smart glasses to be worn more comfortably for extended periods of time.

The company announced in a press release that it now provides a new model of goggles for use with Epson Moverio BT-200. The goggles come in black and clear.

For enterprise Augmented Reality users, the RO S68 Solitaire Ace helps to distribute the Epson BT-200’s weight for comfort and keeps the device secure. When used with medical-grade silicone foam, the seal is appropriate for a multitude of use cases.

Morpace, a market research company, and the University of Michigan-Dearborn conducted an online survey to identify how consumers think and feel about smart glasses technology. One thousand U.S.-based consumers responded to the survey conducted in October 2015. Morpace shared preliminary findings in a press release.

While only 8% of those surveyed are currently aware of this technology, respondents generally agreed with a statement that smart glasses could be of benefit in their daily lives.

Privacy concerns were the chief obstacle the respondents identified as a barrier to use of the technology in public. Although 11% said that they would use the technology in public places, over 35% felt that current models make wearers look strange.

In the workplace, perception about the use of technology for productivity is likely to result in different perceptions. However, privacy and embarrassment about looking awkward are issues to be addressed.

The IEEE Mixed and Augmented Reality Symposium (ISMAR) is the annual research conference at which many important developments in the fields of Mixed and Augmented Reality are made public.

The general chair of ISMAR 2016, Walterio Mayol-Cuevas of the University of Bristol, announced during the closing ceremony of ISMAR 2015 that ISMAR 2016 will take place in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from September 19 to September 23, 2016.

The IEEE Computer Society and IEEE VGTC have announced that the deadline for ISMAR 2016 paper submissions is March 15, 2016. Other details will be made available via the web site in the near future.

Many developers of stand-alone Augmented Reality experiences rely on the Unity game engine for user interface and integration with well-established technology enablers on mobile platforms. In a press release issued by Kudan Limited, the company announced that its Augmented Reality SDK now includes a plug in for Unity.

The Unity plug in for Kudan SDK gives developers the ability to add occlusion to real world objects, adding depth and interactivity to a scene. The Kudan AR SDK also offers a capability to position AR content on any surface. Known as markerless tracking, it does not require a trigger image or location.

Kudan is making its Unity plug in package available for developers at no cost.

As smart glasses continue to rise in importance, so does the number of market research reports on the topic. According to a press release issued by RnRMarketResearch.com, it has released the “Global Smart Glasses Industry 2015 Market Research Report.”

The report provides an overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The report also covers development trends, competitive landscape analysis and reviews how smart glasses will evolve in different geographic regions.

Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, Lenovo, Newmine, Baidu , Recon, ITheater, Vuzix, Gonbes, USAMS, TESO, Shenzhen Good Technology, Osterhout Design Group and AOS Shanghai Electronics are among the companies profiled.

The University of Washington Tech Policy Lab, a collaboration between faculty and students in the School of Law, Information School and Computer Science & Engineering Department and other campus units, uses a set of “diversity panels” for evaluating new technologies and to consider the impact of the technology in question on various end users.

The Lab has released its findings of a study on Augmented Reality in a new report. The authors conclude that the greatest legal and policy issues arising from the use of Augmented Reality concern collection and/or display of information. Within these areas, concerns with privacy, free speech and intellectual property as well as novel forms of distraction and discrimination, raise the need for further attention and the development of new recommendations.

The final section outlines five options available to various policymakers who have an interest in promoting or regulating the technology.

NEC Corporation has announced that its research group has been working on a new product: the ARmKeypad. The ARmKeypad uses smart glasses paired with a smartwatch to display information on the user’s arm with Augmented Reality.

According to the article on TechTimes web site, the wearer of both the glasses and the watch see the information on the forearm. Since the accelerometer in the watch tracks the wearer’s motion the user can use the forearm as if it were a digital input device. One use case is for the user to type on a virtual keyboard that appears on the forearm.

The company’s announcement suggests that it could be available for use by factory workers as soon as 2016.

Oceaneering International is a subsea engineering and applied technology company based in Houston, Texas that has been exploring the use of Augmented Reality for risk reduction and improved job execution in offshore operations.

In this article published in the November 2015 issue of Offshore Engineer magazine, Mark Stevens and Bob Moschetta provide an overview of the subsea engineering projects that could benefit from Augmented Reality. They provide in-depth descriptions of the use of AR for situational awareness, training and control of equipment. They compare subsea use cases to those suggested by the civil aviation community, such as flight path visualization.

The authors conclude that “increased visualization of how the job is supposed to occur provides the opportunity for the continuous improvement cycle to be used as equipment, process or work instructions can be modified based upon the virtual testing of executing the job, thereby reducing the risk and improving efficiency.”

November 5, 2015-Sheffield, UK– The University Of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is demonstrating its leadership role in UK manufacturing by joining the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA). AMRC is the first UK research organisation to join the AREA.

AREA is the only global, member-driven organisation focusing on accelerating augmented reality (AR) adoption in enterprise. The AREA’s mission is to help organisations achieve greater operational efficiencies through the smooth introduction and widespread adoption of interoperable AR-enabled enterprise systems. Its members collaborate to further this vision and mission.

By building on its current research into the impact and value AR within the manufacturing the Integrated Manufacturing Group (IMG) at the AMRC is well placed to advance the AREA’s goals.

Chris Freeman, head of digital assisted assembly at IMG, said: “Joining the AREA will allow us to conduct core research projects with the AREA members, assisting them in creating tailored industrial applications and guiding industry in successfully adopting this advanced technology, all whilst evidencing measurable returns on investment.”

AR will play a pivotal role in IMG’s new home, the AMRC’s new Factory 2050. Factory 2050 is the world’s first fully-reconfigurable factory for advanced manufacturing methods and mechanisms and will allow IMG to showcase the developments and real value of AR to their network of industrial partners.

“Delivery of the right information, to the relevant end user, at the right time, is central to the AMRC’s AR strategy,” said Chris Freeman.

“At Factory 2050 we will be developing innovative ways to visualise the vast array of ‘big data’ available to manufacturing organisations,” he added. “Through the combination of wearable technology and analytics, Factory 2050 will help us demonstrate how digital information will be intelligently accessible and improve overall performance as part of a digital shop floor.”

“The world of AR is developing rapidly. By connecting with the AREA members such as Boeing, APX Labs, Bosch and DAQRI among others, we will leverage their experience and diverse talents, enabling us to be better informed and keeping the AMRC at the forefront of the technology,” said Chris.

“The maturity of AR-enabling technologies and systems is reaching the point where its use in manufacturing is very compelling.  The AR for Enterprise Alliance is very proud to welcome the AMRC as a member – our first dedicated to maturing AR for manufacturing environments,” said Christine Perey, AREA Executive Director.

“Having a member dedicated to maturing these advanced technologies is important to the achievement of our organisation’s strategic goals to drive continuous improvements and increase the impact of AR in industry.”

Members of AREA meet at the University of Sheffield’s AMRC Knowledge Transfer Centre during an AREA members meeting. (l-r) David Doral, AERTEC Solutions, Jay Kim, APX Labs, Matt Kammerait, DAQRI, Mark Lawrence, Newport News Shipbuilding, Chris Freeman, Head of Digitally Assisted Assembly at the AMRC, Bob Meads, iQagent, Christine Perey,  AREA Executive Director and PEREY Research & Consulting, Nathan Greiner, Design Mill, Sri Chandra, IEEE Standards Association, Jim Novack, Talent Swarm (kneeling), Pete Wassell, Augmate and Paul Davies, The Boeing Company

• More information about the AREA is available at http://www.theAREA.org or contact Christine Perey at [email protected]
• More information about IMG can be found here: http://www.amrc.co.uk/research/assembly-img/ or contact Chris Freeman at [email protected]