Thursday, August 11, 2016

Engineering.com -- Understanding Augmented Reality Headsets

A Summary of AR Headsets. Microvision's Nomad was much nicer than the r-7 Display. The language on Magic Leap is interesting, and points toward Microvision, but they may be using a different tech. (there exists an oscillating fiber projector technology, but I'm dubious of its practicality.)


Much more at the source: Engineering.com

Truly Immersive Augmented Reality Requires a Big Headset

One of the most interesting issues with making immersive augmented reality is the amount of physical real estate it requires from the user. There is a direct ratio that requires the amount of optics to increase as the desired display size and field of view increases. With a compact wearable like Google Glass, for example, the widest field of view (FoV) you'll achieve is around 20 to 30 degrees. Google Glass is 13 degrees and something like the Epson MoverioBT-2000 gets up to 23 degrees.
This is basically why headsets yield a more immersive experience.

Name
Google Glass
R-7 Smart Glasses 
Vuzix M300
Moverio Pro BT-2000
Company
Google
Osterhaut Design Group
Epson
Epson
Shipping
Discontinued
Yes
Q3 2016
Yes
FoV (degrees)
15
30
20
23
Resolution
640 x 360
1280 x 720
960 x 540
960 x 540
Platform
Android
Android
Android/iOS
Android
Cost
USD$1,500
USD$2,750
USD$1,499
USD$2,999

5) Magic Leap: News of this unicorn startup comes wrapped in mysterious claims of “light-field displays” and “photonic chips” that are threatening to upend everything we know about consumer-oriented headset kits like the Meta 2. This startup is called Magic Leap, and it's raised about $1.5 billion in funding. The funding was led by Google (which many speculate was a response to Facebook's $2 billion purchase of Oculus) on the strength of supposedly ground-breaking technology in which a special light apparatus beams holographic images right onto your eyes.

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