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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to discuss the challenges and possibilities that are facing the
development of smart glasses, it will also discuss the development of smart glasses and whether
it will be used and in which fields it might be used. Smart glasses are expected to be a big market
in the few next years and it has caused a great improvement throughout the last few years, the
research will use Microsoft HoloLens as an example since it is the most developed smart glass.
The conclusion will summarize the advantages and disadvantages of smart glasses and what is
Technology is all around us, people are using it in every aspect in our lives, but what if
we can go further, think about how you experience the technology, it’s like you are behind glass
screen, what if we can go beyond the screen, where your digital world is blended with your real
world, Smart Glasses can do this, it is the new pc, it will create a new ways to visualize our
work, share ideas, new ways to collaborate and explore places we have never been , but what are
the challenges and possibilities of Smart glasses through this essay Microsoft HoloLens will be
The research will begin with a brief history of wearable technology. Then it will discuss types of
Smart Glasses and simple introduction to Holograms before discussing the development of
Microsoft HoloLens and who are going to use this technology after that it will focus on the
challenges that are faces the development of smart glasses and then the conclusion of this
research that will summarize the advantages and disadvantages of smart glasses.
One of the biggest things that contributed to the development of human civilization was
the technology which gains a great improvements in the last 20 years, and each improvement
makes the technology more close to humans and more easy to access. In the last 20 years, the
computers have seen a great development from stationary computer such as Mainframe
computer, minicomputer and Personal Computer to mobile computer such as Laptops and
Tablets then to wearable computers such as Smart Glasses, which opens the way to a new
product category on the market, the goal of this development was to blend the virtual world with
the physical world, or in other words merge online and offline world together, so it will allow
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 4
people to be online while they are interacting with the real world so smart glasses have a great
potential to enhance the way people interact and communicate. (Mann, 2014).
Types of Smart Glasses. In 1990s, it was the beginning of virtual reality as many companies
tried to make it and failed. In virtual reality the user is completely immersed into a virtual world,
on the other hand augmented reality is about blending the virtual reality with real life which will
enable the user to interact with real world and virtual world.(Wasik, 2013)
Both augmented and virtual reality have the same goal of immersing the user, but both
system have a different approach, with augmented reality, user will still interact with the real
world while interacting with virtual object around them, with virtual reality, the user will be
completely isolated from the real world and completely immersed in a virtual world, so it seems
Holograms. Holography is the science or technique of making holograms, the holograms are
formed by split one laser beam into two which are the object beam and the reference beam, and
both meet on the holographic film where an interference pattern is recorded, there are many ways
Microsoft HoloLens. Redmond 2015, Microsoft unveiled HoloLens, which is not trying to move
you to a different world instead it will bring your digital world to your real world, HoloLens
tracks user’s movement, also the user can use hand gestures to interact with holograms.
augmented reality and virtual reality which is, The difference between Holographic computing
and augmented reality is that users can see a screen of data that overlays the real world and this
data depends on where the user’s camera is pointed on while with holographic computing the
users are able to see holographic objects pinned to specific physical locations in the real world,
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 5
Holographic experience are about delivering a mixed reality that will make digital life better and
It is too early to tell if the smart glasses will succeed or not since this technology is still at
its early development, However, according to Gartner’s Hype Cycle (2014) Wearable user
interfaces are at the top of the hype but with 5 – 10 years of development until it become a
mainstream, also it mentioned that “The Internet of Things and the concept of blurring the
physical and virtual worlds are strong concepts in this stage.” (Gartner, 2014).
Smart Glasses enabled the possibilities of doing many things that will make everyone
benefit from it like designers, developers, creator, commercial organizations and people who are
looking for a whole new way for entertainment will find a great value in Smart Glasses
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 6
measure sleep, motion, food and body signals such as blood sugar, heartbeat, blood pressure, etc.
Combined with social media, where one can share one’s status, smart glasses could play a
special role because they equip one to document life as it is lived even more. This is also known
The group of people who think about, document and share their lives has increased at the
same rate as the technological development. There is no indication that the group will get
smaller. The “need” to document and show how much exercise one has done, how many fun
experiences one has had, and how much good food one has eaten is a trend that is only in its
gestation period (Nissen, 2014). So, we can also assume that smart glasses will enforce and
One of the challenges that faces the development of smart glasses is they have found that the
brain and the eye adapt quickly and, therefore, might be affected by prolonged use (Mann,
2013a). The same might be the case with prolonged use of smart glasses (Ackerman, 2013).
There is also a challenge with people acceptance, the history of technology tends to repeat itself
which is Every time a new product is launched it faces a lot of criticism. Even Socrates (Plato)
lamented the invention of written language because he imagined that written thoughts would stop
At the psychological level, there is a question of how this kind of interaction may affect our
ability to interact. The brain is stimulated by new forms of interaction and the use of new
technology and, thanks to its plastic properties, the brain can change (Pascual-Leone, Amedi,
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 7
Fregni, & Merabet, 2005). Some scholars claim that the prolonged use of technologies such as
smart glasses, which may possibly create distance from other people, is in danger of reducing our
social skills because it stimulates the brain in new ways (Small & Vorgan, 2009).
Conclusion
In summary, smart glasses have the potential to become mainstream, it may be used in
many fields, for instance, healthcare, industry, 3d designs and entertainment, and this would take
3 – 5 years depending on other technology development. The user’s acceptance to the smart
glasses and the using of it in interaction with each other is the biggest challenge, also the voice
and gesture control is such an important challenge since all the command of smart glasses
depends on voice or gesture commands and if they did not work perfectly in the first time, people
References
Ahmed, A. (2012, November 1). An Operating System for Life. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/nov/02/operating-
system-for-life
https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/wearable_computing.html
Narain, A. (2014). Medical Technology: Google Glass And The Future Of Medical Education
http://www.themspress.org/blog/medical-technology-google-glass-and-the-future-of-medical-
education-and-practice/
Wasik, B. (2013). Why Wearable Tech Will Be As Big As The Smartphone. Retrieved from
http://www.wired.com/2013/12/wearable-computers/2/
Hempel, J. (2015). Project HoloLens: Our Exclusive Hands-On With Microsoft’s Holographic
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-hands-on/
Statt, N. (2015). Microsoft's HoloLens explained: How it works and why it's different. Retrieved
from
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-hololens-explained-how-it-works-and-why-its-different/
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 9
Outline
Thesis Statement: Smart glasses are expected to be a big market in the few next years and
this technology have an opportunities and challenges which depends on the interaction of
I. Introduction
IV. Hologram
V. Microsoft HoloLens
VII. Conclusions
References
Running head: FUTURE OF SMART GLASSES 10
Annotated Bibliography
Project HoloLens: Our Exclusive Hands-On With Microsoft’s Holographic Goggles. (2015).
This article discussed the new smart glasses that is developed by Microsoft which is
HoloLens, the author interviewed Alex Kipman who is chief inventor of Microsoft
HoloLens to discuss the recent development of HoloLens and the challenges that are
facing the development of it, This is a helpful source for getting a deep details about
Microsoft's HoloLens explained: How it works and why it's different. (2015).
works-and-why-its-different/
This article discussed the new smart glasses that is developed by Microsoft which is
HoloLens, also the author gives some examples on other types of smart glasses and
why HoloLens is different from other smart glasses and how it works, this is a helpful
source knowing the difference between the types of smart glasses like virtual reality,
augmented reality.