The folks at Google aren’t the only ones working on head-mounted computers that can do some science-fiction level stuff. A guy named William Powell has been working on his own Project Glass-inspired systems, and this week he unveiled a prototype that can translate speech in real-time.

In other words, you can hold a conversation with someone who speaks a different language than you, and the translation will show up in front of your eyes.

Raspberry Pi glasses

What’s really cool about Powell’s system is that it’s hobbled together from a series of existing products, including Vuzix 1200 Star video glasses, and a Raspberry Pi mini-computer.

He’s also using a bluetooth Mic hooked up to an iPad or smartphone, Microsoft translation APIs and some other tools.

The whole thing isn’t exactly a portable as Google’s Project Glass, which you can wear like a pair of glasses with no extra cables or palm-sized computers to lug around. And while the Raspberry Pi is cheap, at about $35, the full kit is rather pricey once you add in the $4999 Vuzix glasses and other components.

But still… did you watch that video? It’s a real-time (or nearly real-time) translation tool that lets you hold a conversation with someone speaking a language you wouldn’t otherwise understand. That’s a pretty cool demonstration of today’s technology doing something I kind of thought was still years away.

via CNET

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers