DJI, the maker of consumer drone aircraft, and Epson, which makes the Moverio augmented reality visor, have partnered to give customers a first-person perspective on what their aircraft is doing.
The Moverio BT-300 binocular visor — significantly smaller and lighter than previous models — was introduced earlier this year at Mobile World Congress and is expected to ship in volume late in 4Q16. Under the deal announced today, DJI (which claims a 70 percent share of the consumer drone business) will make the Moverio available as an accessory on its web site — something around $800 to $1000 is about right, we’re told — and the DJI GO app will be downloadable from Epson.
Epson says this is the first widely available consumer application for AR smart glasses.
New FAA regulations require that drone operators keep their aircraft within a visual line of sight. With the Moverio visor, operators will be able to both the see what the drone is seeing while complying with the FAA. We saw a demo of this a couple of months ago; it’s pretty cool.
