These AR binoculars let you see stars and help identify unique landmarks
These AR binoculars let you see stars and help identify unique landmarks
Unistellar, a French company company known for making telescopes is working on a new pair of binoculars that will use Augmented Reality to identify more than 2,00,000 objects in the night sky and over a million unique landmarks.
With more than a decade of experience making smart telescopes that can help identify distant stars and planets, it looks like the company is bringing the technology to its new Envision binoculars. The upcoming binoculars will have a magnification power of 10x and a diameter of 50mm.
Unistellar says its Augmented Reality Precision Orientation System can dynamically show contextual information in its field of view, which it claims "feels like having a map overlayed on reality."
It can identify things like trails, peaks, springs, stars, comets, galaxies, nebulae and planets both with and without an active internet connection. During the daytime, users will be able to use the binoculars as a "local outdoors guide" and act as a telescope at night time.
Similar to other products from the company, Unistellar Envision will also have a dedicated app that can help you guide you to a point of interest. Just ask the app what you want to see and the binoculars will guide you to the location in the sky. Users will also be able to get detailed information about objects that are centred in the binoculars.
Unistellar says that apart from its AR features, users can also lock on an object and then pass the binoculars to someone else, after which the binoculars will show directional indicators to the same target. The AR-powered binoculars are slated to have a battery life of 1000 binocular engagements per charge or 5 hours. They can also be used as normal binoculars if you happen to run out of juice.
These may seem like the perfect pair of binoculars, but Unistellar says it will be relying on a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to create the prototype. Currently, the crowdfunded project is just $1 million away from its funding goal. Also, even if you back the project, the delivery for early backers isn't expected until late 2025.
While early backers will be able to get their hands on Unistellar Envision binoculars for $699 (approx Rs.58,300), the retail price is expected to be $1,199 (approx Rs 1,00,000)
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