Like the “Babelfish” in Douglas Adams’ Iconic Books, the Pilot Earpiece Translates While You Listen
Language will No Longer be a Barrier to Communication
By Kay Whatley, Editor
Waverly Labs’ “Pilot” in-ear translator means a conversation between two people doesn’t have to be in the same language.
Waverly Labs is taking pre-orders for their Pilot earpiece. The Pilot is the “world’s first smart earpiece” — it translates between users speaking different languages, allowing two people to converse without knowing each other’s language.
Waverly Labs pre-orders may be made via Indiegogo — a crowd-funding website — in Spring 2016 (basically, soon; for now, start on this link). Waverly Labs is also holding a drawing, and it’s easy to enter if you have a Facebook or Twitter account and are willing to visit their account pages.
** Update: May 25, 2016 – the pre-order period starts today at this Indiegogo page. **
The mobile app, which serves as the basic phrasebook for translation while traveling, will be available a few months later in Summer 2016. The Pilot earpiece, which provides the full translation experience, will be out by Spring 2017.
The Pilot is designed for the international traveler and includes a second earpiece (used together for wireless music streaming), a battery charger for additional charges on the go, and an accompanying app to download and toggle languages in the earpiece.
Full retail for the earpieces is estimated to be $299 (US dollars), and will include select languages. Additional languages will be available via downloadable language packs. On their website, depending on when you visit, you may be able to sign up for an early bird discount.
What sets Pilot apart? According to Waverly Labs:
Other “hearable” companies are developing smart earpieces capable of fitness tracking and audio enhancement, but we’re committed to bridging the gap between language barriers. With an estimated 1.6b international trips annually by 2020*, Waverly Labs is at the forefront of an ever-growing need.
While it may not yet translate Vogon poetry — another Douglas Adams reference — the Pilot earpiece will initially translate European-based Romance and Germanic languages, followed by other world languages, including Slavic, Semitic, Hindi, and East Asian.
Waverly Labs’ Pilot uses the latest technologies in speech recognition, machine translation and wearable tech to allow wearers to converse without language barriers. Where other smart earpieces in wearable technology are designed for fitness tracking or audio enhancement, we’re committed to bridging language barriers. Science fiction has called it many things, but we call it the Pilot. Being lost in translation has happened to everyone while traveling, even us, and that’s exactly how the idea was born.
The Pilot includes a second earpiece for wireless music streaming, and a mobile app which toggles between languages.
For more information, visit Waverly Labs’ website or check out the crowd-funding link on indiegogo.
*Tourism 2020 Vision, a United Nations World Tourism Organization publication
