Lumus waveguides enable 70° FOV glasses

[00:00:01]Hello, I'm Antonio here at the Ghost here in a private room with the Lumus people. Always happy to be here and show the magic of what they can do with their optical engines and their wave guides.

[00:00:14]So, this is something I have been promised last year. Last year I was coming here and David told me "Next year there will be 70° field of view wave guide for glasses and without silicon carbide and I was like, "Okay, let's see." And this year I'm here and it's here. So, we can trust that the latest company keeps its promises. So, of course this is a prototype, let's remember Lumus makes optical engines, doesn't make the glasses. This is like Meta making the glasses. So, the wave guide is in the Meta Raven display and this is so a prototype to show what are the the properties of this wave guide. So, these glasses are connected to this computer which are showing something.

[00:01:02]So, I'm trying this demo. There are a few with 3D models, videos, etc. This is just a still image just so you can see that I have something in my eyes.

[00:01:11]And this 70° field of view, I can notice the difference with the previous ones is big in the sense this is what I see. I don't know how to explain this better.

[00:01:20]And it's a more it's a let's say this landscape. I guess it's 4 4 3. What's the 69. Probably It's 16 by 9 aspect ratio.

[00:01:33]So, what I can see the difference with the others, let me try to explain this with the words. It's I find it much more usable in a way. It's still 70, it's not like the VR 100 130 whatever depending on the headset. But it comes to a point where I don't feel like having binoculars. I don't know how to say that. I don't feel like having very small field of view, it starts to become acceptable for doing maybe more things that are possible now. And the definition of the the definition of the image is is nice.

[00:02:11]Uh there are some little problems like the I will explain a while why.

[00:02:18]Uh the the colors are less bright than the previous one and there are some slight distortion of the image like this.

[00:02:24]And the reason is that this waveguide actually works perfectly, but it's been used currently with uh the display with a previous version of the 50 degrees field of view because that's what's available on the market.

[00:02:37]So, Lumus is waiting let's say for a more suitable display to come from the providers of the displays. Uh that's why there are these small problems, but for the rest for what I can appreciate, I mean, I'm not I'm not color blind luckily, but for what I can say for my expertise in AR and VR, it's working pretty well.

[00:02:55]And uh even if the display is not ideal, the artifacts are just in the periphery and uh the colors I can see them less bright than the others, but they're not washed out. So, they're not horrible. It's It's still good.

[00:03:09]So, um as I said, this is pretty cool.

[00:03:11]There is one last thing I want to add because you can see it that I have something in my eyes and the question you may have is what in the Raven meta display you cannot. And and then you said, "So, we're getting backwards?" No, the thing is again, this just this generation that they're still building. So, the next generation will be the final product. This will almost be invisible. Let's say almost like in a Raven meta. So, this means having something when everything will be next generation of the product, it will be the display suitable for it.

[00:03:44]We'll have something let's say like the Raven meta, but with much wider field of view. So, But, something I'm actually very excited about because I think we need glasses this way, like they are very lightweight, small, without leaking uh anything outside.

[00:04:01]And they can have great uh images inside. And let's remember also uh Lumus, I already appreciated it last year. They have very uh very high brightness. So, even if I look outside the window, I'm still able to see the content. So, that's I'm a big fanboy. I have to be honest about that.

[00:04:22]>> [laughter] >> But anyway, unlikely they don't pay me for saying this.

[00:04:26]Uh so, and this is one thing, which is already very cool, but they gave me also a hint about the future, which is this one. And you will say, "Tony, it's the same as this one."

[00:04:37]Probably. Actually, there is a little bit difference. So, this is the that the series that of the uh waveguide, and this is the series A.

[00:04:47]What's the difference? You don't notice it because I'm putting them in the wrong way. You can notice it this way. So, you can clearly see that the old one is much thicker. I mean, it's not super thick, but it's thicker than the new one. So, uh you may ask, "What's the measurement?" So, this is 1.6 mm, and this is 0.8. So, this is half of that, which is huge. And this is not something just aesthetic. There is there are a lot of advantages on using this. One of them is that this is, of course, lighter. And you know that when we're building smart glasses, glasses, even 1 g, 5 g makes a huge difference on the usability between being usable the whole day and being usable just for 1 hour. And so, having half of the dimension from the lenses is pretty huge, in my opinion.

[00:05:35]So, this is coming soon, hopefully. Uh let's say in Q4 this year there will start having the first prototypes.

[00:05:44]Uh then probably it come later on the final product. So, this is another cool innovation. And that's it for today from Lumus. I mean, that's already enough, I would say. This shows us that the future for the glasses, I think it's bright in both ways because the images are bright on this waveguide.

[00:06:03]Uh and I'm pretty excited about this coming. I mean, we it's cool to see us what's already in the market. I mean, the Raven Meta is already nice. But still seeing the small field of view still a lot of limitations. It's something we always want to see more, especially us, you know, like me. And seeing that this is coming for me is super exciting. So, I really can't wait to see what's happening in AR and my glasses in the future. Really thanks Lumus for hosting me and showing me these cool toys. I would like to take them home, but they didn't let me. So, [snorts] thanks for watching this video. Hope you have a good day in AR and bye-bye.