Vuzix are one of the companies that has benefited from the rising interest in the use of augmented reality (AR) for business and enterprise applications. Vuzix has mainly been promoting its M300 smartglasses product for this purpose, but now the company is ready to launch pre-orders for its new Vuzix Blade smart glasses.
Vuzix have announced that pre-orders for the Vuzix Blade development kit are now available. Vuzix has used its experience with the M300 smartglasses along with its patent portfolio to further develop areas such as optics to create a product which they claim is the smallest and sleekest set of smartglasses created so far.
The advantage of the Vuzix Blade, as with other AR solutions, is that it allows AR content and information to be overlaid on the real world, allowing users to perceive the environment whilst still having access to up-to-date information and graphics in a hands-free way, without needing a smartphone or tablet.
The small, compact form factor of the Vuzix Blade resembles a pair of sunglasses, and weighs less than 3 oz., including the camera, CPU sensors and batteries, making it comfortable for users to wear.
The development kit for the Vuzix Blade will include a pre-production version of the Vuzix Blade smartglasses, which will be upgraded to the production hardware when it becomes available. The kit will also include access to the software development kit (SDK), which will allow for the creation of applications and optimisation of content specifically for the Vuzix Blade hardware.
The Vuzix Blade development kit will cost $1,997 (USD), and interested users can get on the list for one of the kits by placing a reservation deposit of $495. The development kits are expected to ship at some point in early 2018. Further information can be found on the Vuzix website.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Vuzix as it becomes available.