Vuforia SDK Enables Leap in User Experience for New Generation of Digital Eyewear Devices from ODG, Epson, and Samsung demonstrated at Qualcomm’s Uplinq 2014 at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco, California.

Photos by Marcus Siu

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — September 18, 2014 — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., today announced the Qualcomm® Vuforia™ mobile vision platform will empower developers to build augmented reality (AR) applications for a new generation of digital eyewear.  The new Vuforia Software Development Kit (SDK) for Digital Eyewear will deliver a major advance in user experience – allowing interactive 3D content to be visually aligned with the underlying world.  This capability will enable new applications in hybrid VR/AR gaming, shopping, and education, as well as across a wide range of enterprise and industrial uses.

The Vuforia platform provides advanced computer vision functionality for recognizing images and objects in the user’s field of view.  It also leverages Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processors to minimize the motion-to-photon latency that is so essential in delivering an authentic AR effect.  Snapdragon processors are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated.  The Vuforia SDK for Digital Eyewear also includes an easy-to-use calibration method that enables Vuforia applications to dynamically adapt to a wearer’s facial geometry, thereby providing an optimal experience.

The R-7 uses ODG’s proprietary electro-optic, computing, sensor and power system, whose technology independently drives dual, 720 pixel see-through elements, delivering an immersive 3D stereoscopic display.

The Vuforia SDK for Digital Eyewear was designed to converge with recent innovations in digital eyewear devices, including the ODG R-7 and the Epson Moverio BT-200.  Announced today by ODG, the R-7 represents the state-of-the-art in digital eyewear with a fully integrated one-piece design, a stereoscopic see-through display system, wireless connectivity and the revolutionary computing power of the Snapdragon 805 processor.  The R-7 offers users and developers unparalleled performance and versatility, and is initially targeted at government and industrial applications.

The Epson Moverio BT-200 smart glasses has an integrated see-through display system and utilizes a two-piece design.  The smart glasses component includes sensors and the display system. The Android-powered control unit contains all other electronics and provides a touch pad for user interaction.  The Moverio BT-200 is available now and is ideal for both consumer and enterprise augmented reality applications, including: environmental games, training solutions, museum experiences, and more.

Leveraging Epson’s patented core technologies, the Moverio BT-200 offers an unparalleled binocular smart glasses experience optimized for augmented reality applications. Micro projectors located on each side of the eyeglasses project transparent overlays of digital content directly in the user’s field of view over the real-world environment. In addition, the Moverio BT-200 glasses contain sensors such as a gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetic compass for head-motion tracking and hands-free navigation, as well as a front-facing camera for video and image capture and identifying real-world markers for AR applications.

Vuforia is also the first vision platform to enable a new class of hybrid VR/AR experiences on the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition powered by Oculus.  With Vuforia SDK for Digital Eyewear, developers will be able to extend the capability of Gear VR further to incorporate AR experiences within VR applications, as well as create immersive AR applications for gaming, education, and shopping.

Through the Samsung Oculus Rift demo, dinosaurs come to life right out of the book.

“The promise of digital eyewear is to create a heads-up display for our daily lives.  While the realization of this promise remains in the future, Vuforia is taking a big step in the right direction by enabling a first generation of applications for consumer and enterprise use,” said Jay Wright, vice president of product management for Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc. “Developers will now have the tools required to build experiences that will drive the adoption of the digital eyewear category.  We look forward to seeing what developers make possible.”

The Vuforia SDK for Digital Eyewear will be available this Fall as a beta for a select group of developers. To apply for the beta, please visit:https://developer.vuforia.com/support/contact/beta. For videos related to Vuforia for Digital Eyewear, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/vuforia.