The rumored augmented reality smart glasses Apple is supposedly working on may have been unwittingly leaked through an incident report filed with the company's safety contractor. The report involved an Apple staff receiving medical aid last Feb. 21 for an injury suffered while conducting tests for a prototype of the supposed AR glasses at the company's De Anza office situated in Cupertino.
The Environment Health and Safety contractor issued the injury report on April 14. The report, which was leaked to Gizmodo, mentioned that Apple employees were involved in over 70 incidents that compromised their safety in different levels. These incidents may be something as simple as running into a door and burning one's hand in an oven. The most interesting incidents are perhaps those which happened to a couple of people who reportedly suffered eye injuries while using prototypes. One of the victims, a woman, had to be given "medical treatment beyond first aid" after she suffered from eye discomfort. According to Tech Radar, the woman in question mentioned that she could see the laser flash several times during the test. She was later referred to an optometrist. The other victim supposedly experienced pain in the eye after using the prototype which, according to the report, was potentially tampered with. When asked, an Apple source said that the prototype is "something like glasses with an overhead display".
News of Apple's interest in entering the field of augmented reality came about early in the year after Robert Scoble revealed in a Facebook post that the tech conglomerate is possibly partnering with Carl Zeiss AG to develop a wearable device with augmented and mixed reality capabilities.
Apple CEO previously expressed that the company considers AR as a "great commercial opportunity" and that it is investing in the technology. Additionally, the employee who revealed the Apple-Zeiss partnership told Scoble that the smart glasses will likely be unveiled within the year.
