Ask HN: Where can I obtain Google Glass(-like) devices for development purposes? - crypto-jeronimo
======
oflannabhra
As others have said, lots of manufacturers have far surpassed Google Glasses
by now. The leaders, at least in the industrial space are (in no particular
order):

1\. Microsoft HoloLens - [https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/hololens/buy](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy)

2\. Vuzix Blade (also m300) - [https://www.vuzix.com/products/blade-smart-
glasses](https://www.vuzix.com/products/blade-smart-glasses)

3\. ODG R7 -
[https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/r-7-smartglasses](https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/r-7-smartglasses)

4\. Google Glass EE -
[https://www.x.company/glass/contact/](https://www.x.company/glass/contact/)

5\. DAQRI - [https://shop.daqri.com](https://shop.daqri.com)

~~~
IshKebab
I don't know about the others, but you can't really say that HoloLens has
"surpassed" Glass, because they're very different products.

Still, HoloLens works much much better than Glass.

------
douglaswlance
Google Glass is just a tiny notification window. It's not what 99% of people
think it is. I'm not sure where the communication broke down, but it seems a
ton of people heard about Google Glass and thought it was going to be an AR
headset that they'd wear all the time. It's just not that useful. It's worse
than mounting an Apple Watch to your head.

~~~
ransom1538
"Google Glass is just a tiny notification window."

Birth control for your face. I think is where it broke down.

Edit: I know, I know.... you worked on the project and you _need_ to down
vote.

~~~
lordCarbonFiber
You seem like the kind of person that called kids with glasses "4-eyes" in
elementary school. Glass didn't look that bad, calm down.

Glass failed because it was a pain in the ass to develop for, hard to
store/take off (no hinges), and weak tech (battery, video processing, voice
control).

~~~
ceejayoz
I think Glass also failed because our society isn't sure how it feels about
random people walking around with an always-on camera pointed at them.

~~~
lordCarbonFiber
I never understood that narrative. Glass's camera was never "always on" (the
puny battery would never have been able to mange that) and even if it was,
glass is the last tool anyone would use to take unconsenting video. Turns out
staring at someone with your head perfectly still is uncomfortable for all
parties involved and most people aren't worth burning your battery for.

Given that you can buy button cams for a tenth of the price, the fact that
CCTV cams dominate public spaces in most everywhere people had these concerns,
and it's far more comfortable, economical, and practical to record video on a
cell phone anyway the privacy panic over glass seems to have been mostly
constructed for page views.

~~~
ceejayoz
It's easier to take a creepshot photo/video on a Glass-style device than it is
to whip out your phone and take one, especially where third-party onlookers
are concerned.

Sure, button cams exist, but the fact that they're concealable whereas Glass
was pretty obvious means folks react more to the Glass. There's also more
plausible deniability if you get caught with one.

"Always on" versus "always _potentially_ on" is a very fine hair to split, and
I doubt anyone who didn't actually own one knew what the battery was/wasn't
capable of.

~~~
lordCarbonFiber
Out of curiosity, have you actually used Glass or interacted with some one
that was using one? In my experience the only place these sorts of concerns
came from were tech journalists looking for clicks and tech people clicking.
General population just thought it was cool (and this is deep american south),
and anyone that owned the thing enjoyed the novelty.

I just find it ironic that 15 years ago we were having the exact same pearl
clutching about cell phone cameras (which are now totally fine apparently).[0]

[https://www.wired.com/2003/02/new-privacy-menace-cell-
phones...](https://www.wired.com/2003/02/new-privacy-menace-cell-phones/)

------
deepeshpandey
I have been doing some development on smart glasses. You have many choices
like Ora which you can buy from there portal, vuzix. Especially, google glass
can be bought from [https://www.streye.com/](https://www.streye.com/).

------
cmsimike
I have been putting together my own google glass as a side project at home for
a while now. At the time, I didn't look much into AR displays, but I did order
a VuFine: [https://www.vufine.com/](https://www.vufine.com/) \- a head mounted
720p screen. This is coupled to a raspberry pi + pijuice UPS

This, coupled with a raspi night vision camera attached to my head, fakes "AR"
since I can see in the vufine what the camera sees (though AR was not really
the goal for this version, but eventually). I am using SDL to render items on
top of the video feed (for instance, using opencv to find and put boxes around
faces).

Additionally, I want to get a range sensor and place that looking behind me,
and render something in the display to give me an idea of what items are
behind me, and how close. I am thinking about rendering a circle from metal
gear solid 4 [0] to give me an impression of where things are behind me, and
how close they are (greater amplitude to indicate how close something is)

I definitely want to get an AR setup, as I feel like that would be best. I
will check out what options are link in this thread.

[0]
[https://media.moddb.com/images/games/1/52/51310/ps3_mgs4_118...](https://media.moddb.com/images/games/1/52/51310/ps3_mgs4_118.1.jpg)

~~~
cmsimike
I have also considered building OpenSimpleLidar [0] and putting that on top of
my head (I also use snips.ai on my ar build to control things by voice, so i
have [1] this headset, which allows me to attach things to the top of it) so
that I can generate real time images of my environment, and have it display a
map, like in a video game, with my location. I haven't got to that part yet -
too many other projects :(

[0]
[https://github.com/iliasam/OpenSimpleLidar/](https://github.com/iliasam/OpenSimpleLidar/)
[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CQ8CB8W/ref=oh_aui_sear...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CQ8CB8W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

~~~
crypto-jeronimo
Could you post some screenshots of your system in action, please?

------
_pmf_
TI Pico DLP[0] is a nice platform for projectors at small scale.

[0] [http://www.ti.com/dlp-chip/display-and-projection/pico-
chips...](http://www.ti.com/dlp-chip/display-and-projection/pico-
chipsets/getting-started.html)

~~~
jesse_m
I've been looking at this too bit where do you source the wave guides?

~~~
moftz
I never realized optical wave guides were a thing but I guess fiber optics are
a medium that sort of mimics how RF wave guides work.

------
kolencherry
I used to run a startup in this space. There's a whole bunch of devices out on
the market, from Vuzix Blade and M300 to the ODG R7/8/9 to the Realwear HMT-1.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses. What's your use case for them?

~~~
crypto-jeronimo
No particular use case in mind yet, aside from exploratory development.

~~~
kolencherry
Gotcha. Yeah, the dev kits on some of those are a bit pricey (2k and up).

Coming from an industrial use-case, I personally really liked the Realwear
HMT-1 — it performs like a champ, is surprisingly comfortable, is available as
intrinsically safe, and has an easy-to-work-with team behind the scenes.

Would strongly consider skipping Glass EE, depending on what you want to do.

------
whywhywhywhy
If you're thinking AR (Glass wasn't AR really) then Leap are apparently open
sourcing their development rig [http://blog.leapmotion.com/north-star-open-
source/](http://blog.leapmotion.com/north-star-open-source/)

Can't vouch for it because I haven't dug in yet.

~~~
cmsimike
I have been waiting for them to release this!

------
nickthegreek
I have a pair of Google Glass that I am willing to sell if you are interested.

------
didip
What you really want is something like this:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bnfwClgheF0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bnfwClgheF0)

Too bad Intel shut that department down.

------
m0ther
I picked up a Brother AirScouter 300C for similar purposes (assuming you're
looking for a display that goes on your face). BHPhoto sells them. HDMI, 720P,
USB powered, effective birth control.

------
netsec_burn
Look into getting a Vuzix Blade. It ships in 4-6 weeks for a devkit.

------
greggman
you can make a cheap Pepper's ghost periscope setup for any smartphone.
example

[http://ibelieveinghost.com/](http://ibelieveinghost.com/)

~~~
zeeed
the pre-order link leads to a dead indiegogo project:
[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghost-best-affordable-
aug...](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghost-best-affordable-augmented-
reality-headset-youtube-apps#/)

do you have other examples or references to news about the ghost project?

~~~
greggman
I don't but I see people making their own at VR/AR meetups

here one though it's not a periscope which is important as you need the
phone's camera to face forward

[https://vrscout.com/projects/diy-ar-device-
hololens/](https://vrscout.com/projects/diy-ar-device-hololens/)

here's some other thing

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/18/15948700/mira-prism-
iphon...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/18/15948700/mira-prism-iphone-
augmented-reality-headset-hands-on-announce)

------
Schumer
Hololens, talk to ms

