A company that has roots in providing tech for military applications is looking to enter the wearable technology market for consumers. Lumus, aims to bring their own version of a Heads Up Display unit attached to a set of glasses to market, that would allow for use with a variation of different things. Much like Google Glass provides users quick and easy access to information, video, audio, and other things all from the user interface right in front of their eyes, this technology from Lumus will be able to provide similar functions. Lumus may not actually be releasing their own product for consumers, but rather licensing the technology behind it out to other manufacturers. They have come up with a couple of different development kits that would allow manufacturers to get the ball rolling, as well as what they are calling the Optical Engine Module which is Lumus’s Optics component and seems to be the driving force behind the rest of the hardware.
The beauty of this dev kit and Optical Engine Module setup, is that the whole thing runs completely on Android, and can be powered solely by a person’s Android device. Once made available to other device manufacturers, those OEMs will be able to take their own design and electronics and implement them together with the Lumus Optics and tech, to form a compelling product for the facial wearables market. The dev kits, labeled as the DK-40 and the DK-32, will be available to manufacturers only, so if you were hoping to get your hands on a pair of these you’re sorely out of luck. The DK-40 model is a single display device that houses an OMAP processor inside, along with a motion sensor and a 5MP camera. The DK-32 is a little more advanced, and has attached to it a dual screen system with two 720P displays that has support for 3D and HDMI.
Lumus says that the Light-Guide Optical Element which is paired with a micro-display pod, won’t cause any dizziness, nor will your eyes get tired or strained from using the device. Lumus uses similar technology inside the Heads Up Displays that are fitted to the helmets inside F-16 fighter jets, although the tech in those helmets are most likely more advance than what these Development Kits will be using. With this kind of tech soon to be in the hands of device manufacturers, we’re likely to see some exciting stuff become available, hopefully sooner than later.
