dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Social Links
  • zedreviews.com
  • citi.io
  • aster.cloud
  • liwaiwai.com
  • guzz.co.uk
  • atinatin.com
0 Likes
0 Followers
0 Subscribers
dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
  • Lah!
  • Technology

How GovTech Is Reinventing The Smart Glasses

  • July 25, 2019
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

Google’s smart glasses never really took off despite strong initial interest from the public. GovTech’s Mr Ng Yong Kiat shares why he thinks smart glasses technology deserves a second shot.

When Google first announced its head-mounted display—the Google Glass—in 2012, it clearly caught the eye of the mass consumer market. The promotional video for the device, featuring icons and content flitting in and out of a wearer’s field of view, garnered millions of views within days of being released, giving the world a glimpse of a new interface with the digital world.

But fast forward to 2019, and Google Glass is nowhere to be seen. Mr Ng Yong Kiat, Senior Manager at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), puts it down to a failure in finding a proper use case for the gadget.

“[The Google Glass’] intended market segment was the mass consumer, but Google didn’t have an ecosystem or apps for smart glasses. If I buy a Google Glass for US$1,500, I wouldn’t even know what to do with it,” he said.

Does that sound the death knell for smart glasses technology? Far from it. At GovTech, Mr Ng and his team have evaluated numerous ways to use smart glasses, essentially finding specific niches for the futuristic eyewear.

Show, don’t tell

Out of the box, smart glasses have two major functionalities: live conferencing and facial recognition. While both can be done using conventional cameras, smart glasses are more ergonomic, allowing hands-free operation while being connected to the Internet via a smartphone.

Mr Ng cited the example of an engineer performing maintenance work which requires the use of both hands. The engineer may occasionally need to relay visual and audio information back to a control room to validate whether something has come back online, or whether certain repairs have been successful. In this case, smart glasses that live stream video can be immensely useful, he said.

“We’re working with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to use the video conferencing function of smart glasses during train maintenance,” Mr Ng explained, adding that smart glasses would allow on-site engineers to tap on remote expertise for more difficult problems.

Changi Airport Group is also exploring the use of smart glasses for managing the construction of its new buildings. Rather than have static mounted cameras for worksite monitoring, smart glasses could allow supervisors to have a broader, more dynamic view of the construction area, said Mr Ng.

Finding the right fit

The applications discussed thus far mainly rely on the video conferencing function of smart glasses. Seeking to take things to the next level, Mr Ng’s team has developed custom video analytics software for smart glasses.

For instance, his team and the Sensors and Internet of Things team at GovTech are running a trial with LTA that involves using smart glasses to identify personal mobility devices (PMDs). “What we’re trying to do is pick out PMDs in a crowded scene of joggers, cyclists and so on. You can have sensors that measure the speed of a moving object, but you still need video analytics to find out whether that object is a PMD or something else,” Mr Ng explained.

To do so, his team performs data collection, data cleansing, data annotation and training of deep learning models for PMD detection.

Mr Ng emphasised that when developing software for smart glasses, the important thing is to avoid vendor lock-in, which means that the software must be compatible with a variety of off-the-shelf smart glasses. Hence, the application programming interfaces and software development kits used should be modular and interchangeable.

Noting strong interest from government agencies in adopting smart glasses technology, Mr Ng believes that this is the right approach to thinking about disruptive innovation—start with the problem statements, select the appropriate invention, then customise it to your use.

“We are definitely not early adopters of smart glasses, but we’ve taken the time to think about the appropriate contexts in which to deploy the technology,” he concluded.

Total
0
Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Share
Related Topics
  • Google
  • Google Glass
  • GovTech
  • Smart Glasses
majulah

Previous Article
  • Technology

5 Moon-Landing Innovations That Changed Life On Earth

  • July 25, 2019
View Post
Next Article
  • Science

You Thought Quantum Mechanics Was Weird: Check Out Entangled Time

  • July 25, 2019
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Meet Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Series: Packing Everything You Expect From a Premium Tablet

  • Dean Marc
  • September 4, 2025
View Post
  • Technology

Malaysia’s ‘ASEAN Shenzhen’ needs some significant legal reform to take off — here’s how

  • dotlah.com
  • August 25, 2025
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Samsung Electronics Debuts Odyssey G7 Monitors, Showcasing Top Games on Its Displays at Gamescom 2025

  • Dean Marc
  • August 20, 2025
View Post
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Technology

Thoughts on America’s AI Action Plan

  • Dean Marc
  • July 24, 2025
View Post
  • Technology

ESWIN Computing launches the EBC77 Series Single Board Computer with Ubuntu

  • dotlah.com
  • July 17, 2025
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones

  • Dean Marc
  • July 9, 2025
View Post
  • Cities
  • Technology

Meralco PowerGen’s PacificLight starts up 100 MW fast-response plant in Singapore

  • dotlah.com
  • June 20, 2025
View Post
  • Technology

Apple services deliver powerful features and intelligent updates to users this autumn

  • Dean Marc
  • June 12, 2025


Trending
  • 1
    • Technology
    How To: Install Python 3.7 In Windows
    • March 16, 2019
  • 2
    • Lah!
    • Science
    NUS Scientists Find New Mechanism Of Cancer Formation
    • January 15, 2021
  • 3
    • Cities
    • Lah!
    FairPrice Lights Up Lives For Deepavali With Education Funding For Beneficiaries Of SINDA
    • October 9, 2021
  • malmo-sweden-pontus-ohlsson-oLVwyChOWBY-unsplash 4
    • Cities
    • Environment
    These 5 global cities are leading the charge to a renewable future
    • March 23, 2022
  • 5
    • Lah!
    • Technology
    Asia Tech x Singapore Unveils Exciting Speaker Line-Up That Explores The Intersection Of Technology, Society & The Digital Economy
    • July 7, 2021
  • 6
    • Cities
    COVID-19 Has Created More Cyclists: How Cities Can Keep Them On Their Bikes
    • August 4, 2020
  • 7
    • Cities
    • Society
    Asia Dominates When It Comes to Passport Power In 2020
    • January 14, 2020
  • 8
    • Animals
    • Environment
    • People
    • World Events
    A Clue To Stopping Coronavirus: Knowing How Viruses Adapt From Animals To Humans
    • February 5, 2020
  • 9
    • Lah!
    Authentic Places To See In Singapore
    • October 11, 2019
  • 10
    • Science
    First-Of-Its-Kind Asian Clinical Research Network Established To Tackle Drug-Resistant Infections In The Region
    • August 19, 2021
  • 11
    • Lah!
    New Facility At Interest Rate Of 0.1% To Help Banks And Finance Companies Lower Cost Of Loans To SMEs
    • April 22, 2020
  • 12
    • Lah!
    Why Is It Important To Wear A Mask To Prevent The Spread Of COVID-19?
    • April 14, 2020
Trending
  • Kitchen Knives - Best All-Around Picks in 2025 1
    Kitchen Knives : The Surgeons of Cooking – Best All-Around Picks in 2025
    • September 15, 2025
  • 2
    Apple unveils iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the most powerful and advanced Pro models ever
    • September 9, 2025
  • 3
    Apple debuts iPhone 17
    • September 9, 2025
  • Fruits and vegetables for cooking. For food processors. 4
    Food Processor: The Swiss Army Knife of the Kitchen – Best All-Around Picks in 2025
    • September 8, 2025
  • 5
    Meet Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Series: Packing Everything You Expect From a Premium Tablet
    • September 4, 2025
  • 6
    Malaysia’s ‘ASEAN Shenzhen’ needs some significant legal reform to take off — here’s how
    • August 25, 2025
  • French Fries 7
    Air Fryer: The One Cooking Appliance to Rule Them All – Best All-Around Picks in 2025
    • August 22, 2025
  • 8
    Samsung Electronics Debuts Odyssey G7 Monitors, Showcasing Top Games on Its Displays at Gamescom 2025
    • August 20, 2025
  • 9
    HP Cranks Up the Game with Smarter Systems, Cooler Builds, and Gear That Hits Different
    • August 14, 2025
  • 10
    New Trump tariffs: early modelling shows most economies lose – the US more than many
    • August 6, 2025
Social Links
dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Connecting Dots Across Asia's Tech and Urban Landscape

Input your search keywords and press Enter.