SAN FRANCISCO— Google co-founder Sergey Brin has announced pricing and availability for a beta version of the augmented reality (AR) eyeglasses that Google unveiled earlier this year.

A team of skydivers and mountain bikers helped Brin dramatically call attention to the company’s smart eyewear development program, known as Project Glass, during the opening day of Google’s I/O conference being held at the Moscone Center here. Standing before an audience of web developers on Wednesday, Brin spoke via video hookup to the skydivers, who were wearing Project Glass prototypes while hovering in a blimp overhead. At his request, they jumped from the blimp and parachuted onto the convention center’s roof while attendees watched on large screens. The aerialists then handed the glasses to cyclists who rode down flights of stairs and down the aisles of the auditorium to deliver them to a grinning Brin.

Brin told the developers that the beta version of the glasses, called the “Explorer Edition,” would cost $1,500. He said Google is taking orders now, but the eyewear would not be delivered until sometime next year. A fully developed version would be available to the general public in 2014, Brin noted.

Watch the skydivers in action at Google’s I/O conference.