How Smart Glasses Are Transforming The Healthcare Industry During COVID-19

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has impacted business operations across several market verticals, including logistics, field service, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Without a doubt, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new solutions, and no other industry has seen this more than the healthcare sector.

Certain safety measures such as social isolation were implemented to help limit the spread of the virus, however, this hasn't stopped the number of new cases from rising. As a result, hospitals, care facilities, and doctors worldwide are limited due to the imposed safety measures and overrun healthcare systems. 

Consequently, access to doctors is limited for many patients, and telemedicine has become essential for health issues not related to the virus. A key-tool for this new solution is smart glasses, which aid care workers in dealing with specific health issues, especially when specialists are not on site.

Vuzix® Corp VUZI is making an impact as a supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technology products during these crucial times. The company has seen many milestones during the pandemic and has made multiple medical developments. 

Vuzix Smartglasses 

Vuzix Smart glasses offer users a portable high-quality viewing experience that provides mobility, wearable displays, and augmented reality (AR). Their functionality ranges from receiving work instructions and data in real-time to checking appointments and taking photos with voice commands. In collaboration with software partners, Vuzix smart glasses have endless potential in the telemedicine realm.

• First-person view: care providers using smart glasses can allow specialists, who may not always be on-site, a close view of situations to provide solutions in real-time.
• 24/7 service: no matter the location of care workers and specialists, patients can have access to treatment with ease. 
• ID points-of-interest: using (AR) tools, practitioners on either end of a call can identify important areas, eliminating the communication barrier of smartphones and tablets. Be it circling a wound, highlighting a nerve, or locating a pressure point by image drawing on the smart glasses screen remotely.
• Record and teach: calls can be recorded securely for educational purposes, which are particularly helpful to new practitioners.

Vuzix And The COVID-19 Pandemic

The popularity of webinars and video calls has skyrocketed among different professionals during the pandemic. As of July 2020, Vuzix Smart Glasses have implemented changes to improve a more comfortable use of Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM through its Zoom Connector app. 

The application provides Vuzix Hands-free Smart Glasses voice control which allows users to enter meetings by using their voice, voice-to-text dictation, or the device’s keyboard to input meeting IDs.  In addition, after login, the user can create a meeting instantly,  save meeting rooms to a device, calendar options or generate a barcode for the next meeting, which can also be scanned with Smart Glasses to enter. 

Vuzix Augmented Reality Smart Glasses Solution For Orthopedic Surgery — Knee Replacement

In June 2020, the first AR knee and total knee replacement were completed in Paris guided by the Pixee Medical AR navigation system running on Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses. Subsequently, over the past five months, more than 40 surgeries have been completed in different hospitals and clinics across Europe with Vuzix Smart Glasses and Pixee Medical AR. 

Smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) make significant contributions in the delivery of medical services, particularly in the current health crisis. Telemedicine, with the help of Smart glasses, is a game-changer.

Corporate Developments

Vuzix® Corp VUZI, a company founded in 1997 with over 20 years of experience, holds 179 patents and patents pending and numerous IP licenses in the Video Eyewear field. The Company has won the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) awards for innovation from 2005 to 2020 and several wireless technology innovation awards. Also, over 40 Fortune 100 companies have implemented Vuzix technology.

The Company’s (Q3) of 2020 results showed revenue growth of 140% over the previous 2019 due to core enterprise smart glasses business. It has also delivered a record $2.7 million of Vuzix smart glasses in the quarter, increasing 156% year-over-year. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has become a catalyst for much broader acceptance of enterprise smart glasses, resulting in shorter evaluation periods and increased customer adoption,” said Paul Travers, President, and CEO of Vuzix. “Healthcare, including telemedicine and telehealth solutions related to patient care, training, and surgery, as well as supporting healthcare companies like medical device manufacturers that have active equipment installations in hospitals and medical facilities, continued to be an important new business segment for Vuzix in the quarter." 

To learn more about Vuzix, click here.

Image courtesy of Vuzix

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.