ogle’s highly secretive project prototype with Magic Leap was leaked to public today. It shows the first every photo to what the company is up to behind the curtains.
Google has been in the news for a while with regards to Magic Leap, a startup in which the search giant had invested big time. The $4.5 billion startup Magic Leap has been working on a secretive technology that ‘augments’ human vision with digital imagery. Similar to what Microsoft’s HoloLens, but way advanced in what it can do, Magic Leap brings in ‘artificial reality’ which creates 3D images in the human brain, directly through the eye. Similar to what is also being researched by a few other companies, for example, QD Laser.
Don’t panic — it’s not as simple as what you just read above. Magic Leap is a US startup company that is working on a head-mounted virtual retinal display that can superimpose 3D computer-generated imagery over real objects. To do this, the head-mounted gear projects digital laser-like light directly into the user’s eye instead of a display like those seen on high-en VR goggles. A light field chip is being constructed by using silicon photonics that will project the light into the human eye. Using this technology, the user can see a holographic 3D image superimposed on real-world objects around him.
Magic Leap was founded by Rony Abovitz in 2010 and was operating in stealth mode raising more than $540 million of venture funding from Google, Qualcomm, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, among other investors in 2014. The company has already raised another $1.4 billion from Google and Alibaba Group last year.
A source close to Business Insider has released a photo that shows the working prototype of the project, which is the first public photo to be leaked. Business Insider tried to authenticate the information with Magic Leap, but the company declined to comment.
The source described the prototype as ‘PEQo,’ where ‘PEQ’ is a term that Magic Leap describes its current prototype and ‘o’ could be the version numbering by them. The photo was taken in early January and the source said that there have been improvements made to the prototype since.
The photo was taken before a ‘board meeting’ where the engineers were to discuss project status till date. The demo of a working prototype to the board, by CEO Rony Abovitz, will be done next week, where the prototype will be in a belt pack rather than a backpack as seen in the photo, explained the source to Business Insider.
The prototype is presently too large and the team is working towards miniaturising it to fit into a smaller form-factor. It is presently a long way into being market-ready, and even highly portable. The photo presently points out to an external battery pack being held in the person’s hand.
What, who is Magic Leap?
‘Whales jump out of gymnasium floors, solar systems can be held in the palm of your hand, and you can share your world in completely new ways,’ explains the company. Well, computers are large boxes and present smartphones are not as powerful to handle intensive graphics and data processing. Magic Leap is a company that is working to mix AI, VR and AR into a new form of ‘Artificial Reality’. By eliminating the display completely, the company aims to project the display on the retina of the human eye. Using this method, you won’t need to strain your eye to look at a display using magnifying glasses that are close to your eye. In short, it would be as simple as a laser pointer hitting a beam of ‘intelligent’ light straight on the retina. ‘At Magic Leap, what we are building is designed to bend technology to serve the needs of people,’ states Magic Leap.
Experience what Magic Leap aims for their new AR in near future below.
