This Portable Translator Is Worn Over The Eyes
What’s the Latest Development?
Earlier this week at CEATEC 2013 — Japan’s largest consumer electronics show — NTT Docomo unveiled a prototype of wearable technology that can translate Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English characters within seconds. A user looking at a sign or menu through Intelligent Glasses will see a translated image of the text projected before them. The glasses can also “turn flat surfaces into pseudo-touchscreens” with the help of a ring that converts hand movements into virtual actions, and use facial recognition software to bring up data about a person in the user’s range of vision.
What’s the Big Idea?
Along with Google Glass, the NTT Docomo prototype represents yet another way in which wearable technology proponents claim life will be made easier. Still, it will be a while before devices such as Intelligent Glasses become ubiquitous. Consumer technology consultant Jonathan Gaw says that in addition to the basic challenges of size, weight and battery life, such items will need to have “a large ecosystem of applications,” not just instant translation, in order to appeal to consumers.
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