RealWear

RealWear makes voice powered smart glasses for frontline industrial workers, currently the Navigator Z1 and the Arc 3. The devices are head mounted assisted reality displays operated entirely by voice, designed to run alongside remote assistance, digital workflow and inspection software rather than replacing it.

Assisted reality is a deliberately narrower proposition than augmented reality and the distinction matters when choosing. Rather than overlaying rendered objects onto the world, the display places a screen in the worker's peripheral vision showing a document, a checklist or a video call. That is less impressive and far more robust, because it works in poor light, does not depend on tracking a surface, and does not fail when the environment looks nothing like the model.

Certification for restricted environments is what genuinely distinguishes the Navigator Z1, marketed as allowed where every other device is banned. Refineries, chemical plants and other hazardous areas exclude ordinary phones and tablets outright, so the alternative there is not a different headset, it is paper.

Voice only control follows from the same setting. A worker in gloves, at height or with both hands inside a machine cannot operate a touchscreen at all, which is the practical reason these devices exist.