Japanese 'Google-like' glasses can translate languages

Japan’s NTT Docomo has reportedly developed reality glasses that can translate languages in real time. The company’s latest device in the wearable computing market was unveiled at a Japanese gadget fair, and developers said that the glasses could be ready for visitors to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

According to Fox News, the gadget will be able to translate unfamiliar text into the wearer’s first language, making signs and menus instantly understandable. Docomo said that the character recognition technology enables instant language translation for users travelling abroad and reading restaurant menus and other documents.

The report said that the another application on the device turns any flat surface into a touchscreen, with a finger ring relaying positioning information to the device that lets wearers ‘touch’ tags that only they can see, perhaps to perform an Internet search.

Similar to the much-anticipated Google Glass, the Docomo glasses also include facial recognition that is intended to look up someone's identity and job title from a smartphone's directory, the report added.