Epson unveils lightweight Moverio BT-300 augmented reality glasses

Virtual reality may be showing up big time at the Mobile World Congress 2016, but Augmented Reality platforms are here in force too. Epson has announced the third generation of its technology with the new Moverio BT-300.

The hardware refresh is designed around making the glasses lighter so that wearer can enjoy augmented reality experiences for longer periods of time without experiencing fatigue. Epson says that the BT-300 is 20 percent lighter than its previous generation model and is powered by an improved Si-OLED projection system. You can see what the new hardware is capable of in the video below.

There are a couple of other hardware tweaks too. The front facing camera has been improved to a 5 megapixel image sensor and the glasses’ on-board sensors have been upgraded to more precisely determine the location of objects in the real world. The augmented reality glasses are powered by an Intel Atom X5 processor and run Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The Moverio BT-300 won’t be heading out to customers until late in 2016. But if you’re one of those early adopter types, you can already pre-order the glasses directly through Epson’s website for $799.

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The Moverio BT-300 is the lightest binocular see-though smart glasses announced to date, and is more than 20% lighter than the Moverio BT-200, setting a new standard for augmented reality smart eyewear. The glasses are powered by a quad core Intel® Atom™ X5 processor and Android 5.1, enabling efficient rendering of complex 3D experiences. An upgraded 5 mega pixel front-facing camera and on-board sensors enable the Moverio BT-300 to more precisely determine the location of objects in the real world. The Si-OLED projection system can then seamlessly render and lock 3D content to these objects, with no display background or edges in the field of view.

The Epson Moverio BT-300 will be available in late 2016 and is available for pre-order at Epson.com/Moverio. Attendees of Mobile World Congress are invited to visit Epson at Hall Congress Square, Stand CS100 to preview the new smart glasses.

“The Epson Moverio BT-300 is a major leap forward in mobile AR smart eyewear, with its comfortable, lightweight form factor and amazing new display engine – and at a price comparable to smartphones,” said Eric Mizufuka, product manager, New Ventures for Epson America. “The transition from LCD backlit projection to Si-OLED enables higher contrast levels, a wider color gamut and true display transparency – this is a game-changing technology that will accelerate the adoption of AR glasses.”

“We’ve built our AR ecosystem of partners and solutions over the past five years and three commercially available products – it’s been a long journey and we’ve learned a lot. We’ve incorporated these learnings into the design of the Moverio BT-300 and are confident that this device will be the standard in the AR glasses category,” Mizufuka said. “In addition to pursuing new markets for our technology, we will rapidly scale in areas where we’ve had commercial success, including drone photography, remote support, AR training/maintenance, healthcare, retail, logistics and more.”

“The Moverio BT-300 marks an impressive advance in performance for the platform, and will offer drone pilots crystal clear, transparent first person views (FPV) from the drone camera while simultaneously maintaining their line of sight with their aircraft,” said Michael Perry, director of strategic partnerships, DJI. “The Moverio smart eyewear will make flying and filming safer and help users stay in compliance with local and federal regulations. We are excited to see the incredible applications that can be built with the BT-300 and the recently relaunched DJI SDK – the possibilities truly are endless.”

“Moverio is distinct from other smart glasses on the market where form often supersedes function, to the detriment of the product’s usability,” said Atsunari Tsuda, general manager responsible for Moverio. “Every design decision we make is driven by consideration for the product’s ultimate usage scenarios and our Si-OLED technology opens a new world for us in binocular see-though smart eyewear development. With OLED we can take advantage of reductions in power usage and weight, and improvements in response times, HD resolution, brightness and contrast. By choosing silicon rather than glass for our base wafer we achieve an even more precise pixel display.”

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