Sports technology company Form announced the Form Swim Goggles, which enable athletes to view performance metrics on an augmented reality display on swim goggles that you can wear underwater.
The lightweight goggles will sell for $200 and come from a startup created by Dan Eisenhardt, who previously sold Recon Instruments to Intel in 2015.
The see-through AR display can show you how you are doing in a timed race in real time. Developed over the past four years in collaboration with top competitive swimmers and coaches, including former Olympians, the Form Swim Goggles make training smarter, more purposeful, and more engaging for swimmers of all levels, the Vancouver-based company said.
Swimming is one of the world’s biggest sports, with over 30 million active pool swimmers in the U.S. alone. On land, the ability to access performance metrics in real time through devices like running watches and bike computers has transformed how runners, cyclists, and triathletes train. But in the pool, existing wearables impair technique and are difficult to access in real time. The Form Swim Goggles address these pain points.
Above: Form’s AR swim goggles will go on sale on August 7 for $200.
Image Credit: Form
“I swam competitively for 14 years and really felt the pain of not being able to access my metrics in real time,” said Form founder and CEO Eisenhardt, in a statement. “The idea for Form came about many years ago, but we are only now entering a time when technology lets us deliver this experience seamlessly in a premium pair of swim goggles. We’re proud that, through a team of top industry talent, we’ve been able to solve a fundamental problem in swimming.”
The company said the Form Swim Goggles combine three key components:
- An augmented-reality display. Integrated into the goggles lens, this display provides a completely unobtrusive, see-through experience and always appears in focus.
- A miniaturized onboard computer. With an ultra-compact profile and 16 hours of battery life, the onboard computer uses artificial intelligence to track and display metrics like split times, distance, stroke rate, and stroke count.
- A premium swim goggles design. Form uses high-grade materials and industry-leading manufacturing processes to provide optimal fit, durability, and hydrodynamics in a design that feels just like a regular pair of swim goggles.
Above: Form delivers swim metrics in real time.
Image Credit: Form
Launching alongside the Form Swim Goggles is the Form Swim App for iPhone and Android. This app enables swimmers and coaches to review and share workouts recorded by the Form Swim Goggles as well as to track progress over time. It also allows swimmers to customize exactly which metrics are displayed in the goggles and when each metric appears: while swimming, after turns, or during rest.
“I competed in two Olympic Games: 2004 and 2012,” said Scott Dickens, director of strategic partnerships at Form, in a statement. “At the elite level, everything is measured down to the hundredth of a second. Having access to real-time metrics in your goggles is an absolute game-changer. Form enables both swimmers and coaches to be more in tune with what’s happening in the moment. Even if you’re not a high-level swimmer, Form makes swimming much more engaging and just plain fun. You always know exactly what you’re doing, and you’re able to compete with yourself while you swim.”
Eisenhardt, a sports technology entrepreneur and former NJCAA competitive swimmer, started the company in 2016. His previous company, Recon Instruments, was a leader in AR eyewear for sports and was acquired by Intel in 2015.
Form employs many of the people from that original team, leveraging decades of combined expertise in sports-eyewear design, activity-tracking algorithms, and augmented-reality optics.
The Form Swim Goggles will be available and ready to ship internationally on August 7 from Form’s website for $200. The app will be available for free on iOS and Google Play on the same day.
Source: VentureBeat
