TAMPA, Fla. — Meta is working with nonprofits across the country to donate 130,000 Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to veterans, with the first pairs distributed in Tampa at the National Veterans Golden Age Games.
Army veteran Sheldon McKinney was among the first veterans trained on the device.
“My left eye started in 1980. I’ve been dealing with it for 46 years,” McKinney said.
McKinney said his guide dog, Nora, is his main helper. He said the glasses give him another tool by describing what is in front of him when he asks.
“You can go in the airport, read the sign like baggage claim, then these glasses will tell you baggage claim, and you can ask the glasses follow-up questions like, ‘Which way is the arrow pointing?’” McKinney said.
After a 10-minute training session, McKinney said he was ready to use the glasses.
“The best thing about these glasses is that they’re hands-free,” he said. “Before all the things that I used to describe stuff for my phone, I got where I didn’t feel comfortable waving my phone left to right and all that kind of stuff.”
Lea Rowe of the Blinded Veterans Association said the goal is to distribute the glasses to as many veterans as possible. She said nonprofits, including the association, will be the main facilitators.
“After the end of this week, we’ll be at 150 being distributed and trained,” Rowe said. “We are hitting the ground running across the United States to get these in as many hands as possible.”
Katie Watson Jordan with Meta said the glasses and training are free for veterans.
“We really believe in these glasses, and we believe that they are a life-changing technology, and we want to do something to support this community,” Watson Jordan said.