Supercharge your skiing experience with these augmented reality goggles

Photo credit: Barney Moss .

Alon Getz and Ori Kotek, co-founders of augmented reality startup RideOn, are self-confessed “outdoor enthusiasts.” The duo, who have been friends since 2000, worked together in the defense industry building augmented reality helmets for helicopter pilots.

But that work didn’t inspire them enough. They yearned to build unique products that could be used by people across the world.

“We wanted to go to a different industry, to do something fun,” explains Alon. “Something that will change industries – such as the way people are doing sports. We did develop very sophisticated systems for defense and now we wanted to have some fun.”

What the two came up with were augmented reality goggles for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts. The goggles combine global positioning systems (GPS), sensors, and cameras to project graphics and information on to a see-through display. Users can toggle features like music, maps, and chat functions.

Other fun things that people can do with the goggles are sending pre-set text messages to friends and activate virtual icons floating in the sky. This means skiers can pull up virtual maps and also engage in challenges such as breaking a friend’s record time down the slope.

This is what the goggles look like:

Photo credit: RideOn.

Work on RideOn started in early 2014 and the startup had an incredibly successful Indiegogo campaign last year. It raised US$114,000 – which was US$39,000 over the target amount. The ensuing media interest helped put RideOn on the map while also validating the concept with consumers.

“Redbull [and similar companies] were all talking about us,” recalls Alon.

Display tech for everyone

Despite the product’s uniqueness, Alon says the future of RideOn does not lie in hardware or the winter sports industry. He explains that the core strength of the team is in the algorithms they’re capable of producing and that they’d much rather leave the hardware elements to bigger, more established players.

“It’s a proof of concept for now. We don’t want to be our own manufacturer. We want to be associated with big names [….] We are looking to cooperate [with them],” he explains.

This means we might see RideOn tech being deployed in things like motorcycle helmets and swimming goggles. Alon isn’t sure what direction the startup will eventually take but says they’re in talks with several potential partners.