You’re walking down the street, and bump into someone who doesn’t speak the same language as you do. What can you do? Other than staring at them blankly? We seem to have an answer for that now, at least in the near future. Subtitles For The World sounds interesting, right? Google smart glasses are a revolutionary pair of glasses that was revealed to the public this May 11th, 2022, at the Google I/O developers conference.
This piece of technology is a level up of the Google Glasses that was presented by Alphabet Inc. ten years ago. The first Google Glass was a wearable camera that films what the user saw. This gave people a new sci-fi look. But along with that comes the question of privacy.
This newly updated pair has a much more “normal” look, as in like the traditional glasses. The latest design or working model/prototype is an unnamed device that has the ability to translate different languages in real time, without hampering communication because of delay. There was a demonstration of this prototype describing the translational abilities, but no additional details or mention of the presence of the camera was given.
How will the translation glasses work?
The person wearing these glasses, when talking to another person who speaks in another language will be able to see the spoken language as closed captions in their own language. The languages that are offered right now are English, Mandarin, Spanish and American Sign Language.
The biggest pain relief in here is, drumrolls, please
When the audio translation is enabled, the translation audio turns on real time conversations, that is, the translations are presented visually, making it easy and natural for the user to follow conversations.
Unlike the Google Glass, the translation prototype is an AR technology. AR or Augmented Reality is an interactive experience of a real work environment like how we do in Pokémon Go and Snapchat. The real-world objects are enhanced by computer generated perceptual information.
The most interesting part of this venture is its focus on practical utility. This ability to understand and be understood is actually helpful. Its aim is not on something magical – like flying dragons or seeing the future. This device’s aim is to assist and provide utility. Google has been active in VR and AR for years, and now the giant has jumped into designing assistive smart glasses for everyday use.
Sundar Pichai shared about how important the role of AR would be for Bildungsroman applications for the real world. He affirmed that Google is heavily invested in that area. The magic will really come alive when you can use them in the real world without technology getting in the way, the CEO added, that potential is what gets us most excited about AT – the ability to spend time on what matters in the real world. It’s important that we design in a way that it is built for the real world and does not take away from it।
This device, a game changer, is not only applicable to people wishing to speak to someone who speaks another language but it could also be an assistive tool for the deaf, the hard of hearing and people with auditory disabilities.
When the new Google smart glasses will be out is still a gray area, but with the prototype already displayed, we can expect the pair anytime soon!
Liked Google smart glasses? Read about the app that is saving dying languages.
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