Optinvent AR Glasses, Cool Tech From CES 2014

We ran into a Optinvent at CES 2014 and had a very short time with them and their AR Glasses. But from what we saw it’s safe to say that smartglasses are being developed at a blazing fast pace. Check out Optinvent’s press release and some photos we took.

Wikitude, the world leader in augmented reality solutions has partnered with Optinvent to build the first true augmented reality glasses platform by combining Optinvent’s ORA-S see-through display and Wikitude’s software development kit (SDK).

Since announcing the expansion into the wearable display technology market in April, Wikitude has seen unparalleled growth and demand for its SDK from mobile developers interested in building “hands free” AR applications. Google Glass has introduced the general public to the possibilities and potential of this technology, but in fact is not designed to enable true augmented reality.

With it’s patented “Flip-Vu” technology, exceptional image quality and form factor, Optinvent’s ORA-S provides an extraordinary visual experience. The display can be flipped up into true “AR” mode, directly in the line of sight for immersive experiences, or flipped down to “Glance” mode where digital information becomes less obtrusive. These two visualization modes greatly enhance the user experience and ergonomics, depending on the use case and situation.

“We’re very excited about our collaboration with Wikitude to run the world’s leading augmented reality software on our game changing ORA-S hardware platform. Wikitude’s proven SDK will allow for a premium experience and app developers can now build their own amazing never before seen applications. Optinvent is proud to have Wikitude as a partner,” says Optinvent CEO Kayvan Mirza.

The Wikitude augmented reality platform is seamlessly integrated with the ORA-S device including innovative optimization of processing power allocation between the smartphone and the wearable display resulting in increased performance and longer battery life. Wikitude’s recent enhancements to its proprietary image recognition and tracking technology, along with 3D modeling, and geo-aware technology provide developers with an end-to-end digital augmentation solution.

“Through this partnership with Optinvent, Wikitude has a strong collaborator in the wearable display technology market. Optinvent’s unique dual mode display, in combination with our complete technology package, offers developers a true augmented reality platform that will power the next generation of wearable computing,” comments Wikitude CMO Andy Gstoll.

In this all-european collaboration, Wikitude and Optinvent both strongly believe that in order to develop a truly groundbreaking wearable augmented reality display solution, tight knit interaction between hardware and software is absolutely essential. The goal of this partnership is to offer the very best possible product for both end consumers and application developers seeking the ideal development platform they desire to realize their AR glasses concepts.

The Optinvent ORA-S wearable display device powered by Wikitude is expected to ship to the development community later this year, with consumer devices projected for early 2014 availability. Pre-orders are now open.