Ally Solos smart glasses help the visually impaired "see the world"

A pair of smart glasses designed specifically for the blind and visually impaired, allowing them to perceive the world around them. This is no longer science fiction: it is now a reality, thanks to artificial intelligence.

This is done by Envision, a startup founded by Karthik Mahadevan, the company's CEO, and Karthik Kannan, its CTO. Both Mahadevan and Kannan studied at the College of Engineering, with Mahadevan later earning a master's degree in Industrial and Product Design from the Delft University of Technology.

Their company has partnered with eyewear brand Solos to launch a new generation of smart glasses designed specifically for the blind and low vision.

Dubbed the Ally Solos Glasses, they can read text, describe their environment, perform web searches, and even recognize people, signs, and objects — all via audio signals transmitted through built-in speakers.

The glasses are built with the same frame as the AirGo Vision glasses that Solos launched last December, integrating multi-modal AI and a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant.

While the design remains largely similar, the Ally Solos glasses use Envision's own AI assistant, 'Ally', instead of GPT-4o. The assistant is powered by a combination of platform AI models, including Meta's Llama, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity, according to Ally's website.

The glasses also feature a 2K camera sensor on the temples to process image information and connect via the Ally app on iOS and Android. The glasses are P67 certified for dust and water resistance, and the headphone strap charges via USB-C, allowing for up to 16 hours of continuous use on a single charge. The headphone strap takes about 90 minutes to fully charge, and a 15-minute quick charge gives about three hours of battery life.

The basic idea behind the glasses is that built-in cameras “see for you,” allowing the wearer to read menus, describe their surroundings, or even identify people and objects through voice commands. While they’re primarily marketed to the blind and visually impaired, anyone can use the glasses, for example to access translation features or scan and capture documents with the camera.

The Ally Solos are available for pre-order now at a special launch price of $399, down from the original price of $699. The frames come in two sizes (regular and large) and come in black, gray, or brown. Pre-orders are expected to ship in October 2025.