What Does It Do?

• Someone said a word you don’t know? Instantly see a definition of that word.
• Someone mentions a politician you’ve never heard of? See their headshot and summarized bio.
• Telling someone about a paper you read last night? The system automatically loads the paper summary and sends a reference to your conversation partner.
• Does someone come from a country you’ve never heard of? Instantly see it on a world map, along with a description of the demographics, language, etc.
• Can’t remember what your colleague said they are using for cloud services? The system searches your past conversations and pulls up the answer as soon as you realize you need it.

User Stories

Below are some hypothetical situations in which Convoscope could improve your conversations. Some of these already work in the current Convoscope app, and some are works in progress:

First Day at Your New Job

In a meeting with the CEO at your new job, she discusses doubling “MRR by end of Q2”. Instantly, the smart glasses’ contextual search clarifies “MRR” as “monthly recurring revenue” and “Q2” as “April — June”. In mere seconds, your knowledge gaps are bridged, allowing you to stay engaged and informed.

Startup Venture Capitalist Discussion

During a startup pitch to a venture capitalist, you’re questioned about how your solution compares to “X Inc.”. Convoscope instantly identifies “X”, showcases their logo to jog your memory, and pull up the relevant data from your competitive analysis spreadsheet. This allows you to respond with assuredness.

Environmental Symposium

Debating deforestation rates, an opponent argues that reforestation balances the losses. A pie chart pops up on your glasses, showing 80% deforestation vs. 20% reforestation globally. The tagline reads “Net Loss 60%.” You counter by highlighting the vast difference between trees lost and replanted.

Food Blogger Interaction

At a culinary event, someone mentions a rare spice they’ve incorporated. Your glasses flash an image of star-shaped seeds with a label “Star Anise Licorice Flavor.” Recognizing the spice visually and by its flavor profile, you can engage in a deeper discussion about its culinary applications.

Debate on Nutrition

A friend claims that the Keto diet is the most effective for rapid weight loss. As the debate heats up, your glasses flash a comparison chart of popular diets over a three-month period. While Keto shows initial rapid loss, another diet displays more sustainable results. You share this, shifting the conversation from short-term efficacy to long-term health benefits.

Lunchtime Talk on Space Exploration

As the table discusses the viability of Mars colonization, someone skeptically mentions the resource cost. Your glasses project a concise infographic comparing the cost of space missions against their potential for resource discovery, like water or minerals on Mars. This propels the conversation from expenditure critique to the potential returns of such endeavors.

Hardware

Convoscope is only possible thanks to all-day wearable smart glasses. The “Vuzix Ultralite OEM Reference Platform” are our smart glasses of choice (for development only, they are not available for sale), and we appreciate Vuzix’s continued support through our partnership to develop AI + AR tools. Checkout Vuzix here: https://www.vuzix.com/

Previous Work

Convoscope is inspired by an array of past work, including the Remembrance Agent (Rhodes et. al), Contextual Search Engines (also discussed on The AR Show), and various just-in-time (JIT) and software agents systems on wearables.

Authors

This project is built by members of TeamOpenSmartGlasses, a community of engineers, researchers, makers, designers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else driven to build technology that enhances user’s intelligence in daily life with smart glasses.