Samsung shows off its fitness-focused AR glasses

Well, it looks like Apple isn't the only tech giant with augmented reality glasses in the works. Here comes Samsung. The Korean company announced at CES 2020 that it is developing a pair of AR specs designed for fitness buffs, complete with a new technology it is calling GEMS (Gait Enhancing & Motivating System). Samsung says that, with its upcoming AR glasses, people can have a workout with a virtual personal trainer, or get into mixed reality worlds that can help them climb a mountain or even walk underwater.

While you're on your virtual explorations, Samsung's GEMS tech will aggregate and analyze your fitness data to offer personalized recommendations — which is based on all the AR activities you're doing from the the comfort of your own home or office.

We knew they were coming — The news that Samsung is working on its own AR glasses shouldn't come as a surprise. Last October, we saw a patent application for a pair of high-tech specs from the company, and the pair it showed off on stage at CES appear to be an iteration of those.

Samsung says that the idea with these AR glasses, plus GEMS, is to give people the ability to turn any room in their home into a fitness studio. And, per the demo we saw (which you can catch a glimpse of above), it looks like the system works quite well even at this early stage.

More to come, eventually — Samsung didn't disclose any pricing or availability details, though we'll likely be hearing more about that here in the not-so-distant future. Yes, AR glasses are cool, but can we just talk about that cute Ballie robo-ball that Samsung also introduced today? I need one of those, stat.