Recon Instruments is a Canadian technology company that produces smartglasses and wearable screens that are marketed by the company as the "ultimate display" for sport. (However, there is no Recon product that contains a transparent display element that delivers true transparency and therefore can be considered a top-head view in the true sense of the term.) Recon products send live activity metrics, GPS maps, and notifications directly to the user's eyes. The first Recon head show offer was released commercially in October 2010, approximately one and a half years before Google introduced Google Glass.
Recon received investment from companies including Motorola and Intel Solutions. He also partnered with enterprise software vendors to create his latest smart eyewear device, Jet, which is suitable for industrial applications.
On June 17, 2015, Recon was acquired by Intel. Recon later described himself as "an Intel company."
In June 2017, Intel announced that all remaining Recon Instruments products will be discontinued at the end of the year. According to a Bloomberg report in October 2017, Intel in fact has closed the Recon Instruments division in early summer 2017.
Video Recon Instruments
Histori
The technology behind Recon Instruments products was born in September 2006 from an integrated MBA project. The project was undertaken by co-founders Dan Eisenhardt, Hamid Abdollahi, Fraser Hall, and Darcy Hughes at the University of British Columbia, the Robert H. Lee Sauder Business School.
Recon Instruments, founded in January 2008, operates from a small office and laboratory space hired from the University of British Columbia. In April 2010, the company moved to its headquarters in the Yaletown area in downtown Vancouver. In March 2015, Recon was still led by co-founders Dan Eisenhardt and Hamid Abdollahi.
Discovery and prototyping
Inventors of its founders originally sought the development of HUD products for swimmers. Eisenhardt, a competitive swimmer, believes that HUD will be a valuable substitute for hours by the pool side. Eisenhardt and his co-founders developed the idea while studying at the University of British Columbia. However, the patent already exists for swimming goggles with a head display. Because of the patent and the challenges presented by small form factor technologies and intended operating conditions, the team ultimately chose to focus on winter sports products. The founders then turned this school project into their first retail product, which was distributed globally in October 2010.
Investor
Recon has received investment from both venture capital firms and other technology companies.
In January 2012, Recon received $ 10 million in Series A funding from Vanedge Capital and Kopin Corporation. Vanedge Capital is a Canadian venture capital firm specializing in "interactive entertainment and digital media businesses." Kopin Corporation is a well known US company for microdisplays devoted to mobile electronics.
In September 2013, Intel Capital, Intel's venture capital company, announced that it has invested in Recon. The details of the deal were not disclosed. However, the announcement describes a product that can be worn as a "significant focus area" for Intel Capital, and it says that investment will allow Recon to "accelerate global product development, marketing and sales, and gain access to Intel Capital's expertise in manufacturing, operations and technology. "
In April 2014, Motorola Solutions announced an investment in Recon. Motorola Solutions describes itself as a provider of communications equipment for "government and corporate customers." Terms of the deal were not made public. In July 2014, Motorola Solutions demonstrated the Recon product as part of a kit for law enforcement personnel.
Intel Acquisition
On June 17, 2015, Recon was acquired by Intel. The value of the deal was initially reported as high as C $ 175 million. However, this amount is not confirmed by Dan Eisenhardt of Recon Instrument, and then generally considered inaccurate. After the acquisition, Recon remained in Vancouver and plans to use Intel technology resources to "develop smart device platforms for more customers and market segments."
Closure of Reconstruction Instruments in 2017
As of June 2017, it is known that Intel intends to stop all remaining Recon Instruments products, namely, Recon Jet and Recon Jet Pro. Around the same time, Recon Instruments suspended all activities on social media and its own website. According to a Bloomberg report in October 2017, Intel in fact has closed the Recon Instruments division in early summer 2017.
Maps Recon Instruments
Hardware
Recon's first product is the smart goggles and what the company marketed (incorrectly) as a "head-up display" aimed at the winter sports market. Recently, the company expanded its focus with Jet, a smart eyeglass device designed for activities such as cycling and running.
Technology Overview
All Recon Instrument products are basically cellular devices that are headed by heads equipped with GPS and environmental sensors. The near eye view is provided in the form of a single, transparent, micro display located below and to the side of one eye. This requires the user to glance down and sideways to read the screen content. Recon head-worn display therefore Head-Displays Displays than Head-up display in the general sense of the term; moreover they are able to provide an Augmented Reality experience due to their lack of look-through capabilities.
Transcend
Recon's first commercial product, Transcend, was released in October 2010. It was designed for winter sports and featured a small LCD screen embedded into a snow goggle frame by Zeal Optics glasses makers. (Zeal Optics is now a subsidiary of Maui Jim, Inc.) Transcend displays data such as GPS maps, temperature, speed, and altitude, and it enables users to share the data. In 2011, Transcend won the Best of Innovations Consumer Electronics Show for Personal Electronics.
MOD and MOD Live
Recon MOD and MOD Live heads-up displays were released in November 2011. Unlike the Transcend, MOD and MOD Live are sold separately from snow goggles. Users can enter it into specially designed "Recon-Ready" eyewear glasses including Uvex, Alpina, and Briko. Oakley also integrates MOD Live into a specially designed snow goggle frame and markets the resulting product as Airwave.
Both MOD and MOD Live offer similar functionality to Transcend, but MOD Live introduces the ability to connect to smartphones via Bluetooth. When connected to a user's smartphone, MOD Live can display caller ID and SMS notifications.
Snow2
Introduced in November 2013, Snow2 is the latest standalone head-up screen from Recon. This feature has a faster processor than MOD and MOD Live along with screen brightness and contrast enhancement, longer battery life, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity, and Made for iPhone (MFi) certification.
Like MOD Live, Snow2 can connect to a smartphone to display call notifications and SMS. It also lets users connect to Facebook and keep track of their friends using the GPS-enabled map feature.
The Snow2 head-up display is designed to fit with compatible glasses from Oakley, Smith, Scott, Uvex, Alpina, Briko, and Zeal. Oakley has integrated Snow2 into the snow goggle frame and markets the resulting product as Airwave 1.5. Despite running an Android-based operating system, Airwave 1.5 is sold by Apple through both Apple retail stores and online Apple Stores.
Jet
In contrast to Snow2, Jet combines a head-up screen with a Recon-designed sunglass frame and polarized lenses.
The jet is intended for activities such as cycling and running rather than winter sports. Recon also partnered with company software companies SAP and APX Labs with the aim of making Jet suitable for industrial applications in fields such as oil and gas extraction and extraction. Motorola's solution, one of Recon's investors, has also shown Jet as a law enforcement equipment.
Built into the Jet is GPS connectivity as well as sensors for tracking metrics such as speed, speed, distance, and elevation elevation. Users can also connect third-party sensors via ANT and smart phones via Bluetooth. Like MOD Live and Snow2, Jet can display call and SMS notifications from the user's smartphone.
The jet is powered by a 1 GHz processor with a dual ARM Cortex-A9 core. The processor, screen, and camera are on the right side of the frame, while the battery is on the left side, out of the weight distribution. Batteries are designed to be exchanged, as well.
Software
ReconOS
The Recon device runs ReconOS, the Android-based operating system.
ReconOS has a special user interface designed for small displays. This shows live activity metrics and lets users share those metrics with social media. ReconOS also features a GPS map that shows the location of your closest friends and plays depending on the user's head orientation. When the Recon device is paired with a smartphone, ReconOS can display call and SMS notifications, and it allows the user to control the music playback of the phone.
ReconOS runs third-party applications as well. Developers can write ReconOS applications using the Recon SDK.
Involve website
The Recon Engage website allows users to search, view and share activity metrics recorded with Recon devices. Users can also tag friends, share photos, download software updates and third-party apps for their Recon devices, and view their mapped events in the embedded Google Maps panel.
Engage mobile app
Available for iOS and Android, the Recon Engage mobile app lets users view and share their activity metrics, and also enables compatible Recon devices to connect to smartphones. Connecting Recon devices to smartphones enables features like friend tracking, SMS call notification and display, and music playback controls.
Recon Uplink
The Recon Uplink desktop application allows users to register their Recon devices, update device software, and sync data from device to Engage account. When used with Jet, the Uplink app can download photos from the device to the user's computer.
Recon SDK
Aimed at developers, the Recon SDK includes the tools, documentation, and samples needed to write third-party applications for Jet and Snow2 Recon devices. The Recon SDK API adds an Android API with a custom extension for the Recon device hardware. Developers do not need to register or pay a fee to access the Recon SDK.
Application Center
By visiting the Application Center on the Recon Engage website, users can download third-party applications for Recon Jet and Snow2 products. Among the applications on offer is Refuel, a "smart nutrition" app that tells users when to eat and rehydrate during activities, and MyGoproRemote2, which allows to control GoPro cameras using Jet or Snow2.
Reception and Criticism
The flagship product of Recon Instruments, Recon Jet, was launched in 2015 for mixed reviews, with Engadget calling glasses "expensive fitness glasses with the potential to get better". Reviewer praises Recon Instruments for bringing the first fitness-oriented head-worn display to the market. Commonly voiced criticisms are high price points, inadequate battery life, user interruption and limited field of view by a non-transparent (solid) view, lag and unsatisfactory GPS accuracy, complex user interfaces, and software problems general.
See also
- Denno Coil - science fiction depicting similar AR glasses
- Epson Moverio BT-100 and BT-200 - stereoscopic augmented-reality glasses
- EyeTap - camera mounted in the eye and HUD
- Google Glass - AR's AR installation project
- Google Goggles - query-by-image search engine
- Computer Golden-i - HMD
- Instabeat - HUD for swimming
- Laster Technologies - augmented reality device manufacturer
- Pristine - video collaboration software for smart glasses
- SixthSense - a wearable AR tool
- Steve Mann - researcher and inventor known for his work on wearable computing
- Vuzix - augmented-reality smart goggles
- Solos Smart Glasses - Future Cycle Advanced Bicycle Augmented
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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