About 300 Google engineers are working on an augmented reality headset known only by its code name: Project Iris. This lightweight headset would bet on working with the cloud.
It’s not just the metaverse and virtual reality in life. Tech giants are also working on augmented reality. This is, as we know, the case of Apple and Microsoft, but also Google, which was one of the first to move forward on this subject with its famous Google Glass from 2012 (which were a resounding failure on the consumer market) . Today we learn from The Verge that Google engineers are designing a new augmented reality device as part of Project Iris. This helmet – or these glasses – could be marketed in 2024.
Autonomous, wireless, this helmet would be equipped with external cameras to capture the environment in real time, enrich it with various elements (visual, sound, interactive, etc.) and transcribe everything to the user. Google’s goal is a priori to offer a light, transportable and non-intrusive device, the question of computing power necessarily arises. Providing a fluid and qualitative virtual experience requires the benefit of a lot of computing power and, in this case, Google has decided to deport it to its servers, on the model of the cloud gaming (streaming game).
Currently, according to informants of The Verge, about 300 people would work on Project Iris at Google, and the prototypes used currently resemble ski goggles (like the very first Oculus helmet designed by Palmer Luckey). It is Clay Bavor, vice-president of Google in charge of laboratories, who is leading this project, and to do this he has part of the teams who design the products of the Pixel range. In recent years, Clay Bavor has worked on many projects related to mixed realities, such as Google Lens, ARCore or Project Starline, the 3D videoconferencing and telepresence solution that Google also plans to deliver in 2024.