Magic Leap is about to change the world with new VR/AR headset technology, promising to provide an experience so close to reality you will hardly be able to tell. Since 2011, the startup has worked secretively on a device so innovative that it attracts top investors in the high-tech industry with mere video depictions of what the technology could provide.
Recently hinting that the headset is soon to be released, Magic Leap‘s Mixed Reality Lightfield promises to provide “neurologically true visual perception.”
“Magic Leap’s headset does not obstruct visibility, instead, it projects images directly onto the viewer’s retina.”
Magic Leap Raises $800 Million USD Without Prototype
From the outside, the Florida offices of Magic Leap appear like headquarters of many other tech companies: large building, parking lot, et cetera. Once you have the Magic Leap headset, the comparison stops there.
Once inside, you will greet humanoid robots walking the halls. You’ll fear giant reptiles let loose in the building, dance with playful fairies, and, in the parking lot, you’ll make sure your etiquette is pristine so as to not attract the attention of a patrolling police robot. The office equipment and decor also seem enchanted. Televisions hanging on the wall are not really there. It disappears and then reappears when needed, appearing to levitate.
Despite impressive photo-realism, these holographic beings are not real yet undeniably present. To get access to this “magic” world, you need Magic Leap’s Mixed Reality headset, which the startup has been developing in relative secrecy.
Magic Leap is valued at $4.5 billion without having a released, finished product. Its demos have already got the attention of major corporations, such as JP Morgan, Google, Alibaba, Lucasfilm and Warner Bros., who have invested about $800 Million in the project last year alone. Magic Leap claims, “we are setting up supply chain operations, manufacturing.”
Mixed Reality Lightfield has Magic Leap Succeeding
In 2014, Google released AR Google Glass (GG). Less than a year later, the company suspended production.
Magic Leap’s headset looks even more like a pair of glasses than GG, but the images are not displayed on the lens. Unlike many VR headsets, Magic Leap’s headset does not obstruct visibility, instead, it projects images directly onto the viewer’s retina. At the same time, the system collects information, scans the environment for obstructions, recognizes voices, and tracks the movement of the eyes and hands.
The Mixed Reality Lightfield “Comes to life by following the rules of the eye and the brain, by being gentle, and by working with us, not against us.” said Magic Leap’s CEO Rony Abovitz, “By following as closely as possible the rules of nature and biology, we can deliver what is truly next.”
Giant Leap’s headset will not be just a smart glass or a high-tech screen, it is a conforming technology with deep applications. From entertainment to medical imaging, the product could be revolutionary in an already innovating VR/AR market. If well-received, Magic Leap could have a profound effect on conventional electronics entertainment.
so well