Get A Virtual Running Partner With Ghost Pacer’s AR Glasses 

unning alone never seems to push athletes to their true potential, having a training partner seems to be the key to maximising workouts. The [nofollow]Ghost Pacer, is the world's first mixed-reality glasses which projects a hologram of a person you can race against outdoors, all in real-time. 

The Ghost Pacer is the next-generation outdoor workout, and has been built for runners by runners to be the ultimate training tool for athletes looking to improve or maintain their current records and fitness.

After years of designing and developing a useful mixed reality experience and fitting it into a streamlined pair of glasses that were comfortable to wear whilst running was not a simple task, what started as 5 pounds of hardware and optics and the goal of creating a sleek pair of glasses that wouldn’t weigh the wearer down was a long road, but after thousands of hours of work, the results speak for themselves.

The Ghost Pacer are AR glasses designed to wear while running, the Ghost Pacer analyses the running route and sets the wearer up against a virtual runner who pushes the wearer to their limits, to get the most optimal workout. The Ghost Pacer comes with an app which allows the wearer to load in their running route, and set goals with a time limit to achieve. 

From the data set and inputted by the wearer, the AR glasses then project a life-size runner who runs right beside the wearer, often overtaking in an effort to make them run faster. Seeing the projection running ahead motivates the wearer to run faster than if they were on their own.

The 3D avatar built into the Ghost Pacer works on a relatively realistic model of a real-life runner. The avatar uses the wearer's phone’s GPS along with a proprietary IMU to make the runner behave in a natural fashion, leaning sideways as it makes a turn and even running slower when it’s going up or down an incline. 

As well as creating an AR running partner, it also captures the wearer's own running data too, which not only assists the Ghost Pacer to improve with time, but also allows the wearer to compete with themselves from data collected from past runs. All data collected is stored in the app and Ghost Pacer users can even create a virtual scoreboard, which allows the wearer to compete with real runners who go on the same route as them or race friends by programming the virtual runner to emulate any of their previous runs.

The Ghost Pacer is a lightweight piece of technology, weighing only 90 grams. The closed visor design gives the wearer a large range of view, allowing the wearer to see the virtual runner out of the corner of their eye. The AR glasses come with a 6 hour battery, which is long enough to wear to train for marathons and longer runs. 

The secret to the success of the Ghost Pacer lies within the app, which has remarkable capabilities of tracking movement and accurately placing the AR runner in relation to where the wearer is while both move forward.

While the Ghost Pacer only currently works for running, we imagine it would just take a software update to allow the virtual avatar to coach the wearer into doing better pushups or yoga or engaging in a variety of competitive cardio exercises. 

Currently, the Ghost Pacer is being funded through Kickstarter and has been backed by over 700 runners who want to get their hands on a pair. The Ghost Pacer is aiming to deliver to the public by the summer of 2021.