After Google Glass' inability to gain a hold, augmented reality goggles have been de-emphasized in the tech market. However, NASA isn't done with the idea of wearable computers.
According to a report from Bloomberg Business, NASA recently teamed up with San Francisco's Osterhout Design Group to develop a pair of augmented reality glasses for astronauts to improve their ability to work in the International Space Station.
Most astronauts have to work with huge binders of instructions while working in space. Not only is this practice cumbersome and restrictive, but it's also a time-waster. However, a pair of glasses that streamlined the instructions by presenting them on a wearer's lens would make work in space a lot easier.
ODG and NASA are currently working on incorporating NASA's software into the glasses, as well as testing them in an undersea setting to see how reliable they would be in zero-gravity. NASA hopes to get a pair of the glasses into space by fall.
NASA had considered using Google Glass in space. But when the space agency approached Google about the possibility of adapting the tech for NASA, Google told NASA that it was more interested in developing products for customers, not the government.
According to Bloomberg, "ODG, which began as a toymaker, now sells electronic gear to governments. Its products are currently being used by the U.S. military, as well as other defense and industrial customers, although the company declined to name them."
