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I wish they had spun it off so it wouldn't just have died within Google. It seems that any project that isn't wildly popular is just starved of talent inside Go
by bborud 4y ago
I wish they had spun it off so it wouldn't just have died within Google. It seems that any project that isn't wildly popular is just starved of talent inside Google. Outside Google with a little bit of money and a dedicated team, I don't see why this couldn't have been a success.
What I would really like was a product that was developed to be affordable, fairly open so you can easily integrate it into your own system, write applications that can run on the device without need to call home to the mothership etc.
There are lots of situations where it would have been very convenient to have access to an affordable, ruggedized, light-weight product that provides both a head mounted display, a decent quality camera and a user interface that can be operated while wearing gloves.
For instance, right now I'm involved in a project where we help build a huge piece of machinery (the size of several intercity trains in terms of size and mass). The team is spread all over the world while the building of the actual machine takes place in a backwater that takes about a 24 hours to travel to. It would be really useful if the onsite engineers could stream video of what they see while working on the machine rather than having to use handheld mobile phones. It would also be useful if they could see telemetry and parameters in the display as they work on the machine without having to move to look at the various displays. Perhaps also see the video stream of other engineers working at the same site.
- CharlieDigital 4y agoCheck out apprentice.io The founder initially fell in love with Google Glass and went on to build an AR/VR startup around it. They are life sciences focused, but I see no reason it couldn't fit your use case.
- bborud 4y agoInteresting, but I think the device is a bit too bulky and sticks too far out to work in my use case. The environment where we'd use this is essentially a giant machine shop where you have to wear a hard-hat, it is noisy and dirty and you often have to get into tight spaces with cabling and piping everywhere. Besides it doesn't look like they are primarily focused on selling the device itself. For a device to work for us it would either have to be so small it can be worn with a hard hat, and not stick out beyond the helmet and incorporate safety glasses, or it would have to be a lightweight helmet mounted system that can be folded out of the way when not in use so people don't have to change helmets. With a helmet mounted device you could incorporate the camera(s) in the helmet and perhaps even include an IR camera as well. For the stuff we work on on that project, having an IR camera, would actually be of immense help. Both for on-site work (being able to see what temperature different parts of the machine are with some accuracy), for remote observation and for documenting.
- dbspin 4y agoSeems like both the Microsoft Hololens 2 and Magic Leap 2 fit your requirements.
- CharlieDigital 4y agoReach out to the team. They are not a device company but a software company that focuses on integrating with AR devices. Angelo, the founder, has a deep passion for VR/AR so I'm sure he'd love to hear your use case. As a bonus: their focus has been on adding evidence capture (documentation, really) in the flow of the process. The primary use case is pharma manufacturing execution systems (e.g. installation, configuration, and validation of a new production line).
- avsteele 4y agoI just put in a request to talk to them. Got a call back from a sales rep. I explained the my application was remote support of engineers /customers working in on our hardware microscopes (similar to an electron microscope). The sales rep says they are only interested in selling life sciences /drug companies. So I would recommend against anyone contacting them who want to use this for general purpose AR.
- CharlieDigital 4y agoUnfortunate! I think you can try their social channels (LinkedIn) and see if there's any interest higher up. Sales folks are probably too narrowly market focused.
- specialist 4y ago> I wish they had spun it off so it wouldn't just have died within Google. Exactly. Why isn't this their norm? So dumb. Expand scope of Google Ventures. Or create "Google Spinoffs" with a tighter focus. I'm certain they'd have plenty of Googlers/Xooglers who'd jump at the chance.
- bborud 4y agoI guess one way they could have done it is to spin out companies with enough money for 3 years of runway (with non-obscene compensation packages) for a minority stake in the company and a 2 year option to buy a majority stake for N times the valuation at the time of spin-out. That way they can give the product a chance, motivate the people who jump aboard and have the option to buy back the company within a reasonable time frame if it proves to be a success. It would also give Google an incentive to promote the company to some degree and perhaps channel business opportunities their way. (Or some variation of the above). Back when I left Google I would have been happy to take a deal along those lines.
- mustacheemperor 4y ago> Outside Google with a little bit of money and a dedicated team, I don't see why this couldn't have been a success. Fortunately, dedicated teams outside of google have built similar products and been much more successful in the market. I think that Vuzix[0] or Realware[1] might have exactly what you need: a rugged head-worn camera and lightweight 2D display/hud that can stream video/audio/files over the internet. They're in use today for use cases just like what you describe and are definitely glove-friendly. If you need 3D interactivity/perception, it's a more complex case, but there's products for that too using hardware like the HoloLens or iOS pro devices. [0]https://www.vuzix.com/ https://www.vuzix.com/ [1]https://www.realwear.com/ https://www.realwear.com/