DigiLens Reveals Modular ‘Design v1’ Glasses to Drive Sustainable AR Development

The company's fresh approach to designing AR devices is set to shake up the industry and back new entreants to the market

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Published: May 24, 2021

Demond Cureton

Tech startup DigiLens recently revealed it has created an augmented reality (AR) hardware platform aimed at allowing designers greater flexibility to switch components as they develop prototypes for future devices.

The Sunnyvale, California-based tech firm announced last week it had built a new set of glasses named “Design v1”, which operate on the company’s new Visualize Framework.

DigiLens specialises in building holographic waveguides, which are vital, roughly one millimetre-thick components used to project virtual images on device lenses.

Design v1 is also powered with Qualcomm’s XR2 chip, which is also used in market-leading Oculus Quest 2, allowing the glasses to operate without being tied to external devices.

According to the Bay Area-based firm, the Design v1 will also have a field of vision similar to the HoloLens 2 but will have brighter AR imaging.

Chris Pickett, chief executive of DigiLens said:

“Design v1 is brighter, lighter and more capable than any other waveguide based XR device on the market”

Pickett also explained DigiLens was creating a “blueprint” for the extended reality (XR) ecosystem to adopt “as needed for their individual markets” and unique software development needs.

DigiLens will begin offering the Design v1 glasses to qualified clients and partners at the end of June this year, arriving just two years after Apple Inc. acquired Akonia, a holographic waveguide startup, to leverage the XR market.

DigiLens also explained the Design v1 will also allow tech firms unable to produce their own waveforms to do so.

Picket concluded: “Expanding the pool of ex­perts and democratizing ideas across the spectrum is what the market has missed to date.”

Waveguide Advancements in the AR Industry See Record Growth, Smaller Devices

The news comes as competition in the AR smart glasses market has begun skyrocketing in recent months, namely as Vuzix, a major developer of enterprise-grade devices, announced record sales in its fourth quarter (Q4) earnings report in January.

Vuzix reported sales of roughly $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 117 percent year-on-year, according to a recent company earnings call.

Further developments in the AR waveguide market included a major partnership between waveguide and light engine designer WaveOptics and Luxexcel, a 3D printed prescription lens firm.

The partnership will aim to develop a 3D printed prescription lens with integrated projectors and waveguides, allowing users to receive highly detailed images on the miniature optical devices.

 

 

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