Epson Partners with DJI to Develop Augmented Reality Smart Eyewear Solutions for Piloting Drones

Epson, providers of the Moverio® augmented reality (AR) smart eyewear platform, today announced a partnership with DJI, the world’s leading maker of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The partnership will ensure the development of exciting new applications for Epson’s Moverio smart eyewear that will significantly enhance the piloting experience of DJI drones for hobbyists and professionals alike.  

As one of the first initiatives of the partnership, DJI will optimise the DJI GO app for the Epson Moverio BT-300 AR smart glasses. Using the app with the Moverio glasses, drone pilots will be able to see crystal clear, transparent first person views (FPV) from the drone camera while simultaneously maintaining line of sight with their aircraft. The DJI GO app is compatible with the DJI Phantom, Inspire and Matrice series drone models as well as the Osmo handheld gimbal and camera.  

Epson and DJI will co-market the Moverio BT-300 as a certified DJI accessory, along with the DJI GO app later this year. The Epson smart glasses will be available to buy on DJI.com while the DJI GO app will be available for download from the Moverio Apps Market.

The Epson/DJI partnership meets various country-specific aviation agency regulations and guidelines for UAVs across Europe, specifically that UAVs should remain within visual line-of-sight (VLOS) of the pilot, enabling a variety of businesses to use drones for a range of aerial photographic and video purposes.  Sectors such as construction, housing, insurance, agriculture, emergency services, conservation, academic research, film and video production all benefit from using drones today.

“The Moverio BT-300 marks an impressive advance in performance for the platform and will make flying and filming safer and help users stay in compliance with regulations,” said Michael Perry, director of strategic partnerships, DJI. “We are excited to see the incredible applications that can be built with the Moverio BT-300 and the recently-relaunched DJI SDK – the possibilities truly are endless.”

Valerie Riffaud-Cangelosi, Epson’s EMEA New Market Development Manager – Wearables & Connected Devices, says: “This is a milestone event - the first time AR smart glasses will be widely available for a mass-market consumer application. The drone market has become a priority market for Epson and we believe the partnership with DJI will revolutionise how drone pilots operate their aircraft in this fast-growing industry. Our Moverio BT-300 smart glasses are tailored for drone piloting, and its head-tracking sensors enable the drone pilot to visualise a 360-degree canvas, while keeping track of the device and maintaining line of sight. This is an important factor in terms of regulations and piloting experience, because it helps the pilot to concentrate on the task at hand and make decisions more quickly.”

In addition to making drone piloting safer, the goals of the partnership include providing pilots and film-makers with new AR tools for enhanced productivity when using a drone.  Epson and DJI will also work together to create entirely new experiences for the fast-growing number of hobbyists and businesses, as well as conduct joint sales and marketing efforts worldwide.

Launching its first-generation smart glasses in 2011, the Epson Moverio BT-300 represents the world’s lightest binocular, transparent smart glasses with an OLED display. Combining breakthrough silicon-based OLED digital display technology and Android OS 5.1, the Moverio BT-300 enables truly transparent mobile AR experiences. The Epson Moverio BT-300 will be available in late 2016 and may be pre-ordered at www.epson.eu/See-Through-Smart-Glasses. For a complete product overview of the Moverio BT-300, please visit the following link. 

Epson and DJI will be demonstrating the DJI GO app on the Moverio BT-300 during InterDrone 2016 in Las Vegas (Booth 81 this week, 7-9^th Sept.), and in Cologne at COPTER WORLD at Photokina” (Hall 6, 20-25^th Sept).