Atheer, Inc., the company pioneering the new Augmented interactive Reality (AiR) computing platform, has agreed to acquire ONtheGO Platforms, Inc., the company behind Ari, a gesture recognition software that turns mobile devices with a standard camera into a gesture interface. This acquisition gives Atheer customers an enhanced ability to use natural gestures on the Atheer AiR smart glasses platform.

“As we continue to build an enterprise-class smart glasses platform, natural interactivity is front and center of the rich Atheer experience,” said Alberto Torres, CEO of Atheer. “ONtheGO shares a strong and synergistic patent portfolio and talent that will benefit our rapidly growing customer base and the overall market of smart glasses. We look forward to creating innovative solutions for Fortune 1000 companies with our expanded team.”

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Gesture recognition technology on mobile devices

ONtheGO Platforms was founded in 2012 and built Ari on smart glasses, first to address the constraints of limited CPU and battery power of wearable devices. This resulted in a fast, light and accurate mobile gesture recognition software. With the acquisition, the Ari technology combined with Atheer’s gesture, voice and motion tracking-based interactive platform will enrich the way people interact with mobile devices, an Atheer press release stated.

In addition, ONtheGO also adds three issued and six pending patents to Atheer’s IP portfolio of gesture interaction and visuality technologies, bringing the total to 14 issued patents and nearly 50 additional pending patents. All of ONtheGO Platforms’ employees will be joining the Atheer staff and will continue to operate from Portland.

“Gesture recognition technology has been around for decades and mobile devices have recently become a viable candidate for this computationally heavy technology,” said Ryan Fink, VP of Market Development at Atheer and former CEO of ONtheGO Platforms. “We’re thrilled to join Atheer, where together we will be the most comprehensive gesture recognition platform in the market and will further enhance productivity for deskless professionals worldwide.”

ONtheGO Platforms has previously received investments from Brad Feld through his FG Angel Seed Fund and Paul Kedrosky through SK Ventures. Financial terms of the ONtheGO Platforms acquisition were not disclosed.

For ONtheGO Platforms’ clients with existing Ari licenses, the software will continue to be available at www.otgplatforms.com/developers and support will also be available to customers by contacting them at support@otgplatforms.com.

The announcement of this acquisition comes hot on the heels of Atheer’s unveiling of  the AiR Glasses, the company’s interactive 3D smart glasses, and the AiR Enterprise Suite, a cloud-based collaboration and task flow interaction solution for Fortune 1000 companies.

Image via Atheer, Inc. edited by SiliconANGLE