MYO Wristband Teams Up With Google Glass

Waterloo's Thalmic Labs reveals hopes for a Google Glass integration.

Waterloo's Thalmic Labs has begun shipping the production version of its hardware to pre-order customers already, and now the company is gearing up for its full-scale enterprise play with the help of some partner companies and with development efforts aimed at specific devices, including Google Glass. Myo's potential for the enterprise could be much greater than its initial appeal for ordinary consumer users, as keeping hands clear of devices is a key advantage in many industrial and medical fields. 

The partnerships include companies working in various different fields, including Augmedix, which uses Google Glass to offer physicians a Google Glass-based patient information and documentation system. Myo makes it possible to use and navigate this system without having to speak to Google Glass, or reach up and use the touch-based input device on the arm of the wearable computer. 

A team-up with APX Labs will see Myo integrated with software built specifically for Glass and the Espon Moverio, among other smartglass designs, for use in work at wind mills, refineries, hydro plants and other field locations where it's key to be able to check out and respond to live feedback and troubleshooting documents while keeping your hands free at the same time. 

Another application of Glass-based tech Myo is announcing today is a partnership with Bridgit, which makes the gesture control armband compatible with the company's Closeout deficiency management software. This makes it possible to track deficiencies at construction sites in real-time using Google Glass, giving project managers conducting inspections a way to instantly assign needed projects to subcontractors using gesture input as they do their walkthroughs.

Finally, Thalmic is working with Recon Instruments to build support for its jet wearable heads-up display and computer to let it control and navigate the device. This could lead to applications both in extreme sports, and in industrial situations where having information about the surrounding environment displayed in real time, with navigable menus exposing additional data where necessary.

Thalmic's big enterprise push is timely; the company has just started sending out its fist consumer devices, but with any big new launch of hardware intended for use in everyday computing, there's a chance that it won't find the market that open to change. In case of that eventually, the startup will need to look elsewhere to move inventory and drive revenue, and previous players in this category, including Leap Motion, have found willing partners in industry and in enterprise. It's a less challenging market in many regards, especially since it's more tolerant of operational quirks and steep learning curves than the average consumer is.