14 DAY TRIAL // Makers of wearable electronics have been, for months, going on about how smart their wrist and armbands are, and how much smarter they become when paired with a smartphone. Now, though Epson and Thalmic Labs are showing that wearables can make each other smarter as well.
Back at the Consumer Electronics Show, in January (CES 2014), Epson revealed the Moverio BT-200 smart glasses, which may or may not successfully challenge Google Glass when the time comes.
Now, the company has enhanced its product by means of an invention from Thalmic Labs, specifically the Myo armband.
Myo is an armband that detects arm and hand gestures based on the muscle contractions and electrical currents in the upper forearm, as well as the arm's movements themselves.
Smart glasses app developer and CEO of Imaginary Computer Sean McCracken was able to make a few apps that allowed the Moverio BT-200 to be controlled via the Myo armband.
Having both wearables on, and the wireless link live, you could, for instance, point a finger or pinch to zoom in on a certain pop-up info screen in your field of view.
The glasses only show things, you see, and while voice control is all well and good, it's not exactly the epitome of human-machine interaction. Not on its own.
You could also make a fist and grab a data stream, and much more. Basically, it's like having your own interactive holographic display technology, only without the holograms.
The inventors compared their joint success to the gestural computing concept from Minority Report (set in the year 2054, so you could say they are ahead of the times by a great deal).
In other words, the Moverio Glasses and Myo armband add a second screen experience over the real-life view. You can, thus, take a walk or visit a tourist attraction while also watching your Facebook or Twitter feeds, or updating them. You could even watch live TV, and switch between them all with a few hand movements.
This collaboration probably wouldn't fit the Google Glass as well as it does the Epson Moverio BT-200, because the latter interposes an augmented reality view over your whole vision, not just the edge of your sight like the former.
In order words, the Thalmic Labs Myo armband would probably be underutilized with the Glass, especially since voice control is supposed to be the core of Google's device. Maybe the eyewear will have serious competition after all.