This Is The One Thing You Need To Pack On Your Trip Around The World
"It's the dream, you know? A life untethered, free of language barriers. It's just that it's no longer a dream anymore."
Star Trek teased us with the Universal Translator
And then "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" introduced us to Babel Fish
But Waverly Labs is now presenting Pilot, and this one is for real.
This wearable is an in-ear translation device that will let different language speakers communicate in real time.
And while Google Translate and Skype offer similar translation services, their lagged translation time and reliance on reading and app data usage makes the wifi- and data-free Pilot app more appealing for travelers. Also, the wearable nature of the device fosters a more natural conversation.
Each person wears one earpiece. Then, the translation operates offline through the connected app that transmits the translated text directly into the other earpiece.
When not in use for translation purposes, the earpieces can be also used as standard headphones.
Andrew Ochoa, the inventor of Pilot, said he came up with the idea when he met a French girl and couldn't properly communicate with her.
The device currently has the capability to translate Romance Languages (French, Spanish, Italian) and English.
The team is working to expand the capabilities to other languages as well.
The Pilot will soon be available for preorder at the ticket price of $129 before increasing to $250-$300 when it's (hopefully) officially released this fall.
While this fabulous invention still needs to go through the crowdfunding process, there's already a crazy long waitlist to pre-order the device, so an official launch is looking immensely promising.
Now you really have no excuse to put off that international adventure.
