 | |
Type of site | Private |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | , |
| CEO | Ari Grobman [1] |
| Key people | Shlomo Kalish (Chairman of the Board) |
| Industry | Near-eye display, Augmented Reality, Consumer Electronics |
Lumus is an Israeli-based augmented reality company headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel. [2] Founded in 2000, Lumus has developed technology for see-through wearable displays, via its patented Light-guide Optical Element (LOE) platform to market producers of smart glasses and augmented reality eyewear. [3]
The LOE is a patented [4] optical waveguide that makes use of multiple partial reflectors embedded in a single substrate to reflect a virtual image into the eye of the wearer. Specifically, the image is coupled into the LOE by a "Pod" (micro-display projector) that sits at the edge of the waveguide—in an eyeglass configuration, this is embedded in the temple of the glasses. The image travels through total internal reflection to the multiple array of partial reflectors and are reflected to the eye. While each partial reflector shows only a portion of the image, the optics are such that the wearer sees the combined array and perceives it as a single uniform image projected at infinity. The transparent display enables a virtual image to be seamlessly overlaid over the wearer's real world view. This is especially true when the source image comprises a black background with light color wording or symbology being displayed. Black is essentially see-through color, while lighter colored objects, symbols or characters appear to float in the wearer's line of sight. Conversely, full screen images like documents, internet pages, movies which are typically brighter colors can be displayed to look like a large virtual image floating a few meter's away from the wearer.
Lumus, with the LOE, has a single waveguide that works on all colors. The thickness of their one LOE is similar to the stack of multiple (one per red, green, and blue) thinner waveguides on HoloLens. They simply cut the waveguide's entrance at an angle to get the light to enter (rather than use a color specific diffraction grating), and then they use a series of very specially designed partial mirrors to cause the light to exit.
The company builds reflective waveguides. They rely on microscopic etchings in transparent glass lenses that catch light being projected into their edges. [5]
Using Lumus Optical Engines (OE) or development kits allows smart eyewear manufacturers to maintain their own industrial design and branding.
Lenovo announce at Transform 3.0 at Accelerate convention, that she using Lumus AR glasses in her new ThinkReality A6. [9]
A retroreflector is a device or surface that reflects radiation back to its source with minimum scattering. This works at a wide range of angle of incidence, unlike a planar mirror, which does this only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the wave front, having a zero angle of incidence. Being directed, the retroflector's reflection is brighter than that of a diffuse reflector. Corner reflectors and cat's eye reflectors are the most used kinds.
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated 3D content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive, or destructive. As such, it is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum.
A 3D display is a display device capable of conveying depth to the viewer. Many 3D displays are stereoscopic displays, which produce a basic 3D effect by means of stereopsis, but can cause eye strain and visual fatigue. Newer 3D displays such as holographic and light field displays produce a more realistic 3D effect by combining stereopsis and accurate focal length for the displayed content. Newer 3D displays in this manner cause less visual fatigue than classical stereoscopic displays.
A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet, that has a small display optic in front of one or each eye. HMDs have many uses including gaming, aviation, engineering, and medicine.
A virtual retinal display (VRD), also known as a retinal scan display (RSD) or retinal projector (RP), is a display technology that draws a raster display directly onto the retina of the eye.
Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.
Vuzix is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Rochester, New York and founded by Paul Travers in 1997. Vuzix is a supplier of wearable virtual reality and augmented reality display technology. Vuzix manufactures and sells computer display devices and software. Vuzix head-mounted displays are marketed towards mobile and immersive augmented reality applications, such as 3D gaming, manufacturing training, and military tactical equipment. On January 5, 2015, Intel acquired 30% of Vuzix's stock for $24.8 million.
A holographic optical element (HOE) is an optical component (mirror, lens, directional diffuser, etc.) that produces holographic images using principles of diffraction. HOE is most commonly used in transparent displays, 3D imaging, and certain scanning technologies.
Recon Instruments was a Canadian technology company that produced smartglasses and wearable displays marketed by the company as "heads-up displays" for sports. Recon's products delivered live activity metrics, GPS maps, and notifications directly to the user's eye. Recon's first heads-up display offering was released commercially in October 2010, roughly a year and a half before Google introduced Google Glass.
A see-through display or transparent display is an electronic display that allows the user to see what is shown on the screen while still being able to see through it. The main applications of this type of display are in head-up displays, augmented reality systems, digital signage, and general large-scale spatial light modulation. They should be distinguished from image-combination systems which achieve visually similar effects by optically combining multiple images in the field of view. Transparent displays embed the active matrix of the display in the field of view, which generally allows them to be more compact than combination-based systems.
Erick Miller is a CEO, technology entrepreneur and investor who began his career building startups during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s in San Francisco, California. Miller is the Founder and CEO of CoinCircle, and founding managing director of Hyperspeed Ventures and the former CEO and Founder of Vergence Labs, a company known for designing and developing wearable computer enabled video streaming glasses under the brand name Epiphany Eyewear as well as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) eyewear.
Epiphany Eyewear are smartglasses developed by Vergence Labs. The glasses record video stored within the glasses' hardware for live-stream upload to a computer or social media. The glasses use smartphone technology. The head mounted display is a mobile computer and a high-definition camera. The glasses take photographic images, record or stream video to a smartphone or computer tablet.
An optical head-mounted display (OHMD) is a wearable device that has the capability of reflecting projected images as well as allowing the user to see through it. In some cases, this may qualify as augmented reality (AR) technology. OHMD technology has existed since 1997 in various forms, but despite a number of attempts from industry, has yet to have had major commercial success.
Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers that offer useful capabilities to the user. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to change their optical properties, such as smart sunglasses that are programmed to change tint by electronic means. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that include headphone functionality.
castAR was a Palo Alto–based technology startup company founded in March 2013 by Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson. Its first product was to be the castAR, a pair of augmented reality and virtual reality glasses. castAR was a founding member of the nonprofit Immersive Technology Alliance.
Meta was a company that designed augmented reality products. The company was founded by Meron Gribetz in 2012, based on the "Extramissive spatial imaging digital eye glass" technology invented by Gribetz and Mann originally filed with the US Patent and Trademark office Jan 3, 2013.
Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) is a discontinued platform by Microsoft which provides augmented reality and virtual reality experiences with compatible head-mounted displays.
Spectacles are smartglasses dedicated to recording video for the Snapchat service. This term is often used to address sunglasses and eyeglasses. They feature a camera lens and are capable of recording short video segments and syncing with a smartphone to upload to the user's online account. They were developed and manufactured by Snap Inc., and announced on September 23, 2016. The smartglasses were released on November 10, 2016. They are made for Snap's image messaging and multimedia platform, Snapchat, and were initially distributed exclusively through Snap's pop-up vending machine, Snapbot. On February 20, 2017, Snap Spectacles became available for purchase online.
Everysight Ltd. is an Israeli technology company established in 2014 as a spinoff of Elbit Systems. Everysight develops smartglasses based on augmented reality technology for the civilian market. The company's main product is Raptor smartglasses.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, formerly known as Ray-Ban Stories, are smartglasses created as a collaboration between Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica. They include two cameras, open-ear speakers, a microphone, and touchpad, all built into the frame.