Magic Leap, the mysterious Augmented Reality Startup, which has raised an astonishing $1.9 billion without publishing a prototype, is starting the new year with big plans. After six years, the company has now announced the “Magic Leap One”. The product, which is supposed to provide users with a never-before-seen Augmented Reality experience, is far more than just another pair of AR glasses.
If you can believe the reports from Magic Leap, their AR set consists of a pair of glasses called “Lightwear”, a belted mini-computer called “Lightpack” and a controller with a touch field called “Control”. Magic Leap’s eyeglasses are based on a special light field technology that projects virtual objects even more realistically into the field of vision. According to the startup, this method makes the objects appear either sharp or blurred, depending on the visual focus.
“We’re adding another dimension to computing. Where digital respects the physical. And they work together to make life better. Magic Leap One is built for creators who want to change how we experience the world.” – Magic Leap
Magic Leap further explains on its website that its Augmented Reality technology will be able to fuse digital objects with reality so precisely that the user’s eyes will not be strained, as is sometimes the case with other types of glasses.
This is made possible by six cameras in the glasses, as well as sensors and an integrated machine learning chip. All these components analyse the environment and place the objects optimally in the room. Magic Leap One “will also be able to remember where virtual objects have been placed and permanently mount them, if desired.
The company sees areas of application in entertainment, display insertion, gaming and Social VR.
Whether the first project of the mystery startup will really live up to its promise will become clear in 2018. Then the “Magic Leap One” set will be released. The startup has not yet revealed how expensive the whole thing will be.
