ODG’s New Augmented Reality Glasses Are Meant For Consumers

You may not have heard of the Osterhout Design Group. It’s a company that primarily makes medical and industrial heads-up displays. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2017, it unveiled two new augmented reality glasses that are focused towards consumers. The R-8 and R-9 pack AR technology into a compact design.

Both ODG headsets are powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 835 processor and run ODG’s Reticle OS that’s based on Android 7.0 Nougat. Just like Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headset, they also provide six-degree-of-freedom tracking, this enables them to place digital items in real space.

The ODG R-9 is the high-end model so it has more features, including but not limited to a 50-degree field of view with 1080p resolution and a 13 megapixel front camera that’s capable of recording 4K video. It also features an extension port which can be used to attach sensor modules for additional features like low-light vision. The R-9 costs $1,900.

Consumers who are interested in checking out this technology will likely pick up the R-8. It has a 40-degree field of view, a 720p resolution display, two 1080p cameras up front, and it ditches the port that allows users to attach modules. This means that it’s lighter as well at 4.5 ounces against the R-9’s 6.5 ounces. Priced at under $1,000 the company expects to start shipping the R-8 AR headset in the second half of this year.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Augmented Reality (AR), CES, CES 2017