These AR Smart Glasses Could Be the Future of Multilingual Live Translation

Imagine being able to put on a pair of glasses and suddenly have a wealth of languages at your fingertips. Well, you don't really have to imagine it anymore.

Impressively, instant translation company Zoi Meet's team up with leading AR firm Vuzix means that anyone can use AR technology to listen to an individual and have translated subtitles of what they are saying appear on their specs.

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Entire languages, instantly available

The new integration of the Zoi Meet real-time transcription app on Vuzix Blade AR glasses allows users "to receive instant transcription of everything that is being said in one of the 12 languages offered," Vuzix said in a press release.

The Zoi Meet service allows for hands-free instant language translation. Speech is automatically transcribed into text, while someone speaks. In the new glasses integration, the text is projected directly into the AR glasses headset — as can be seen in the image above.

The app can also be used on tablets and devices. The company's main focus thus far has been as a business software that translates for international meetings and also stores downloadable transcriptions.

Zoi Meet's app has been made available on the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses, AR glasses that were made to be more streamlined, and look more like real glasses than other models, like Magic Leap and Google Glass.

It allows for 12 languages. These are English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Japanese and Korean.

This launch, Vuzix says, marks one of the first collaborations to support live multilingual communication through AR smart glasses.

Bringing people closer together

"By enabling the unique Zoi Meet instant transcription service on Vuzix smart glasses we realize our goal of bringing people closer together and unlocking both personal and business opportunities unavailable to them before," said Kevin Oranje, Founder of Zoi Meet, in the press release.

Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix, said, "the need for seamless communication across languages has never been greater.

"With this exciting collaboration we mark the breakthrough moment in the AR technology world."

Believe the hype?

Will this really be the breakthrough the company's feel we are on the verge of witnessing?

VR and AR companies have been promising to produce world-changing technologies for years, and many are still far from living up to the hype.

While Zoi Meet representatives tell us there are no immediate plans to expand beyond the current 12 languages available, Oranje says the company will next release "the upgraded Zoi Meet platform by the end of November."

This, he says, "can turn meeting highlights into actionable items, including Zoom Video support, to increase follow-up activity and reduce the administrative workload of business professionals globally."

It is undoubtedly a strong translation and business tool, and one that faces strong competition in a huge international market.