Author | Yuanyi
Source| Jiguo Editorial Department
Do you remember the once sensational Google Glass Google Glass? For the first time, it uses AR augmented reality technology to push important information to you like in a science fiction movie. #数码科技趣闻 #
The background of the development of this glasses is also mysterious, from Google X Lab, which claims to burn 4 billion yuan a year.
However, this "epoch-making" glasses also came and went in a hurry, and the price of more than 9500 yuan alone, plus more than 2000 yuan of international freight, dissuaded most buyers.
The final product was heavily boycotted because of the "potential privacy risks". As a result, Google Glass went from being "amazing" when it was first released to being banned by American coffee shops and gradually disappearing.
From the current point of view, Google Glass only appeared in the era that did not belong to him. All in all, it appeared too early, and AR technology is not yet mature and user acceptance is not high.
But now, with the acceleration of 5G networks and the rise of the metaversal wave, wearable devices are finally standing in the wind.
No, the undead Google aimed at the opportunity to "resurrect" the former Google Glass in a new way!
Recently, the New York Times confirmed that Google is developing a new AR headset, the project code name is "ProjectIris", the current development work is still in the early stages, the product is expected to be available as soon as 2024.
While what ProjectIris looks like has yet to be announced, Google has already begun to show off many of the new technologies it will come with.
Judging from the current news, the new generation of ProjectIris under development is a wireless device, and there are also reports that the current prototype of the device is "similar to a pair of ski goggles".
Google's previous factory in the San Francisco Bay Area developed an early prototype similar to ski goggles that did not require an external power supply, which also confirmed this.
While the headset uses a custom Google processor, like its latest Google Pixel smartphone, and runs on Android, Google's job posting indicates they're also working on a new and unique operating system.
As for other features, ProjectIris, like Facebook and Apple's upcoming headsets, Google's devices also use external cameras to combine computer graphics with real-world images, powered by their own processors.
Then the "computing power external" should be the main function of this glasses, that is, to leave the complex graphics processing to the external computer.
When AR glasses are running, Google will have its data center remotely render some graphics and transmit them to the glasses via the Internet, much like a cloud-like concept. That said, Google decided that ProjectIris glasses would rely more on cloud computing than on hardware.
For a better user experience, Google, under the name "Iris," has also built a machine learning model, Media Pipe Iris, which can track the iris, pupil, and eye contours in real time through a single RGB camera without specialized hardware, and determine the measurement distance between the object and the camera with an accuracy of less than 10% relative error.
Since a large number of applications, including AR, rely on iris tracking to estimate eye position, the model can be seen as one of Google's efforts to develop AR devices to create a more immersive mixed reality experience than existing AR glasses.
By the way, for the birth of this ProjectIris headset, the research and development team behind Google has also made a bloody investment.
In mid-December last year, it was reported that Google was hiring an "AR operating system" team to focus on building software for "innovative AR devices", which should be the power of the Project Iris project.
Until now, Project Iris was a strictly confidential project inside Google, hidden in buildings that required special key card access and where access was required to sign a confidentiality agreement.
According to the data, the entire core team responsible for the headset has about 300 people, and Google plans to recruit hundreds more. In charge of this work is Clay Bavor, vice president of Google Labs, who reports directly to CEO Sundar Pichai.
Clay Bavor has been responsible for Google's VR and AR businesses since 2005, dating back to Carboard and Daydream.
In November 2021, he became vice president of Google Labs, leading AR and VR, Project Starline, in-house incubator Area 120, and any other "high-potential, long-term" projects.
He also manages the Project Starline, an ultra-high resolution light field display demonstrated last year, which is expected to be released with Project Iris in 2024. To achieve this, Google brought in Paul Greco, former Magic Leap CTO, to join the Project Starline team.
Bernard Kress, chief optical architect of Microsoft's HoloLens team, has left the company to join the recently established Google Labs as director of XR engineering, which is driving the development of Google AR glasses.
At the same time, the Google Pixel team is also involved in the development of some ProjectIris hardware parts, but it is unclear whether the headset will eventually use the same Pixel technology.
Therefore, with such a strong R & D team, Google's ProjectIris glasses are still very promising.
In fact, Google chose to develop ProjectIris at the moment, and the ultimate goal is also obvious: to return to hardware in the AR field.
Speaking of which, Google has been involved in the AR/VR field for nearly 10 years, starting with Google Glass in 2012, Google has been working in the VR/AR field for many years, but finally closed many projects.
At present, Google is completely BASED ON AR/VR software, Google Glass has long withdrawn from the consumer market, in 2019, Google decided to stop the virtual reality platform Daydream at the same time, but also announced that it will no longer sell mobile devices such as Daydream View, basically can be said to completely abandon the market for AR hardware products.
However, Google's hardware research and development heart is not dead, and after many years, the emergence of Project Iris marks That Google will return to the hardware category.
And in October last year, Google's latest head, Pi Cai, said on Google's earnings call that the company was "rethinking" AR and that it would become "our main investment area."
But the market isn't as big as Google's, where Mark Zuckerberg staked his company on AR and VR last year, hired thousands of people, and renamed Facebook Meta. Apple has also been rumored to be ready to launch its first MR headset device as early as later this year.
In such a fierce environment, I don't know if the final return of Google Project Iris at this time can compete with these technology giants? We'll see.