Google Glass has gone to the dogs — literally.
The tech giant has teamed up with the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a wearable computer system that could give bomb-sniffing and cadaver dogs an easier way to communicate with their handlers — or even let man see the world through an animal’s eyes.
Google Glass isn’t expected to be released to the public until next year, but the MIT Technology Review reports that Thad Starner, the technical lead for Google’s hot new product, has joined professors at the Georgia Institute to develop a computerized harness to assist working dogs,
The project, dubbed FIDO (it stands for Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations), could allow pooches to bite down on or otherwise activate a sensor which sends information to its handler, the Review reported.
Currently in testing are devices that would let a dog activate a sensor, which then activates a tone that is heard through an earpiece, but eventually the technology could transmit video from a dog to a human’s heads-up display, the Review reported.
And the technology appears to work: Associate Professor Melody Jackson told the Review that three service dogs that tested the gadget quickly got the hang of the senors, which they activated using their mouths.
The gear is being eyed for everything the deadly-serious business of bomb detecting or helping the blind to letting owners know when a dog has to go out or when it’s time to be fed, Jackson said.
Being designed for man’s best friend, the gear is unlikely to generate some of the hostility that has emerged as Google Glass.
A Seattle bar in March preemptively banned the technology for fear of patrons being surreptitiously recorded — and warned that “ass kickings will be encouraged for violators.”
And on Friday, Delaware joined several other states in prohibiting the tiny device at its casinos.
Google Glass has not been released to the public, but a select few have been allowed to purchase the $1,500 devices; they were chosen through a contest and lottery. Google Glass is expected to be released to the mass market next year.
— with AP