Daqri, a California-based startup, is putting a lot of the company’s efforts onto producing a very unique hard hat. A very different kind of an Android wearable device, Daqri’s hard hat is a re-imagining of what is usually an ordinary construction safety tool into a very helpful and information-rich device.
Daqri’s hard hat looks closer to a cyclist’s helmet because of the transparent visor that functions as a heads-up display (HUD) for the user. The HUD visor is where all the augmented reality (AR) information shows up. It can show information about real-world equipment and construction projects as the user – probably an engineer or architect – casts his gaze their way.
In this sense, this wearable is different from Google Glass – the hard hat has industrial and construction situations and environments in mind. The hat can actually be programmed to also “look for” potential safety hazards and can warn the user of danger if anything in the construction environment seems out of place.
With ambitious design objectives like this, the device will need a lot of processing power – that should be taken care of by two Snapdragon processors which Daqri is planning to design the hat with. Data can be stored in user replaceable flash memory cartridges, and the hat should come with a powerful camera/video sensor of its own. Given these, the hard hat would be a bit costly to make. But given the target market, it would be interesting to see if the idea gets good traction.
VIA: Engadget