From the "universal translator" of "Star Trek" to the secret tool "Honyaku Konnaku" of "Doraemon", many automatic translators have been drawn in the science fiction world.

We may be one step closer to the world of science fiction. New York startup Waverly Labs has announced the Pilot, an earpiece-type translator that you can put in your ears.


Many models of automatic translation equipment are already on the market. However, most of them are systems that can be called "sequential interpretation" that require language input with the keyboard. It has the problem that it takes time to communicate.

"Pilot" is an automatic translation device that aims to evolve into "simultaneous interpretation". It translates the words spoken by the person in front of you in real time and conveys them by voice from the earpiece.


A microphone is built in the earpiece to catch the voice and transfer it to the smartphone. The app on your smartphone uses voice recognition to convert your voice into text. It is a mechanism that translates this into a preset language by machine translation. The translated text is voice-converted by the text-to-speech function and is played as voice from the earpiece.


"Pilot" is a product designed for travelers traveling the world. In some cases, you may not be able to connect to the network. Waverly Labs is developing "Pilot" so that it can be used offline to support this.


Compared to the science fiction world, "Pilot" still has its limitations. When communicating with someone, you need to have the other person wear the earpiece as well as yourself. This can be a bit annoying.

Moreover, as long as machine translation is used, the translation quality remains uncertain. People who have translated overseas websites using Google Translate, etc. may have had a headache because they have no idea what the translated Japanese means. It seems that the translation of "Pilot" does not exceed the quality of Google Translate.

However, when it comes to translations between European languages such as German to English, machine translation has already reached a certain level. For that reason, the initial shipping version of "Pilot" only supports European languages. After that, it will sell "additional language packages" for Hindi, Slavic, Semitic, and other East Asian languages for a fee.


The developer, Waverly Labs, started a campaign on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo around May 24th. Accept pre-orders for "Pilot". The price is expected to be around $ 249-299 after the launch, but the early bird version will be available for $ 129 during the Indiegogo campaign. After the early bird version is sold out, the amount required to obtain it will gradually increase to $ 149 and $ 179.

Also, those who applied for reservations on May 24th and 25th immediately after the start of the campaign will be given the privilege of getting an "additional language package" for free.


Personally, I'd like to wait for "Pilot" to evolve to the point where it translates all the surrounding audio. For example, when I participate in a walking tour overseas, the guide's explanation may be in the local language only and I cannot understand it at all. Many people would appreciate it if they could translate the guide's explanations. Also, if it becomes possible to translate plays and puppet shows based on the traditions of the area, I think the enjoyment of traveling will expand.