Metaio Announces Dedicated Augmented Reality Chip

We’ve seen some interesting applications of augmented reality over the past few years, ranging from everything from games such as Google’s Ingress to apps that help you calculate how far to drive your golf ball while on the green. The only catch with AR is the battery power that these apps drain from smartphones, limiting the functionality of the technology. Today, Metaio has announced the production of chipsets with AR capabilities built into them, thus reducing the battery drain when using augmented reality apps.

The new AR chip, dubbed the AREngine is slated to be released in ST-Ericsson phones beginning later this year. Metaio is still mum on details pertaining to what kind of AR features will be present. Even without these details, we can still expect the AREngine to make speed and performance increases, and extended battery life for devices using AR.

“The AR Engine will do for augmented reality what the GPU did years ago for the gaming industry. This is a great leap in the AR space, and we strongly believe that the AR Engine working with ST Ericsson platforms will help realize the Augmented City—the idea of a completely connected environment powered by augmented reality and made possible with next-gen, optimized mobile platforms,” said Metaio CTO Peter Meier

Whether or not AR integrated chips will bring a big impact on the mobile world is anyone’s guess, but it seems to be a logical next step in the evolution of augmented reality technology. With Google’s Glass rearing it’s awkward looking head everywhere these days, there’s no doubt that AR is here to stay. And Metaio, who has been at the AR game for way longer than Google, is helping to open up the future of AR technology.

 

[Via: TechCrunch]