Gizmos & Gadgets: A Glimpse at the First Universal Translator

June 2, 2016 – The Indiegogo site begins with the words “a world without language barriers.” The product is a communication wearable, a smart earpiece called Pilot that allows people speaking different languages to understand each other.

Pilot is the first smart earpiece language translator. Wearers hear what is being said to them in their own language regardless of the language the other person speaks. On Star Trek the device was a universal translator. Here in the 21st century they call it Pilot. Pilot consists of an unobtrusive ear piece (comes in red, black or white). A secondary earpiece allows for wireless streaming of music. And the smartphone app that comes with Pilot toggles between languages or lets the user upload basic translations to a smartphone for reading offline. It even allows for multiple language conversations in conference mode.

Languages include English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese available by May 2017. By fall 2017 Pilot will translate German, Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian. Additional languages include a variety of Slavic, East Asian and African dialects and languages. Languages can be downloaded through the app.

Pilot features a dual noise-cancelling microphone, speech recognition, machine translation and speech synthesis. Translation is simultaneous with slight latency.

Pilot is rechargeable with onboard Bluetooth and near-field magnetic induction communication. It runs on a lithium-ion battery with 4 to 6 hours talk time.

When the company launched its Indiegogo campaign it was seeking $75,000 U.S. So far it has exceeded expectations by more than 2,500 per cent and raised close to $2 million from more than 8,400 contributors. Talk about fulfilling a whole bunch of Trekkies dreams.

You can still pre-order by pledging $199 U.S. on the Indiegogo site.  That will get you  a full Pilot system with its two ear pieces, the mobile smartphone app and a portable recharger. For more information about the inventor and company visit Waverly Labs, based in New York City.