Augmented Reality Real-Time Multi-Language Conversation

Posted by davidytan in applications, augmented reality, commerce, displays, perception on 11 6th, 2009 | no responses

Augmented Reality glasses for language translation

By David Y Tan Nov 6, ‘09

It’s not Douglas Adam’s Babel Fish, but it is pretty close. NEC demonstrated a real-time conversation between two people speaking in different languages. Using the power of voice recognition, language translation software and Augmented Reality glasses, two women, one speaking in English and another in Japanese were able to hold a natural conversation with no human interpreters involved.

The AR glasses project subtitles of the conversation directly onto the retina, eliminating the need for bulky lenses in the headset. These devices are expected to go on sale in 2010. Targeted at the business market initially the price tag is 7.5M yen or about $85,000 USD for a pack of 30 units. However this does not include the translation tools and software which is extra.

Although demonstrated with language translation subtitling, these headsets can also be used to provide the wearer with all kinds of additional Augmented Reality information about the people they are interacting with. In fact NEC said the Tele Scouter was intended to be a business tool that could aid sales staff have information about a client’s buying history beamed into their eye during a conversation.