Mixed reality glasses, AKA augmented reality (AR) glasses, have been around for a while, most notably starting in 2012 with the release of Google glasses. A lot has changed since 2012, and in 2019 several companies such as Google, Microsoft and Nreal have/are also coming out with AR glasses.

AR glasses work by using lenses found in normal glasses to allow light to pass through and then combines it with an LED or OLED display, sending the computer-generated images to the eyes. This allows the user to see the world around them as well as whatever images they wish to see, so for those that don’t want to walk into a wall while viewing a Steampunk world, this is what you want.

With AI especially, glasses have the ability to “learn” characteristics, such as what a car looks like, and have it cover what you see with a computer-generated Steampunk car. The glasses still use a camera to show you the outside, this basically means when you have AR glasses on, you are seeing a live stream projected in front of you that you can add layers to.

AR has lots of potential for more than pleasure viewing such as waking up in the tropics in New York.