Inside Magic Leap and Their Mixed Reality Technology

Magic Leap is the coolest company you’ve never heard of. Founded in 2011, Magic Leap has been shrouded in mystery, with the company promising the most advanced tech in augmented reality. Their device, called Lightwear, promises to bring something called mixed reality to the public. The device is tethered to a pocket-size computer called the Lightpack, that will be able to inject life-like moving and interactive things into the a person’s view of the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmdXJy_IdNw

The company has been the center of massive investments from a wide range of people and institutions. To date, the company has raised close to $2 billion, despite ever having a product on the market. To-date, the company is valued at $6 billion. Magic Leap made headlines a while back when they released a concept video that wowed people with the incredible technology they promise with their headset.

Magic Leap was founded by Rony Abovitz, an eccentric engineer who designed robotic arms used for surgeries at Mako Surgical Corp. After selling that company for close to $2 billion, he went on to found Magic Leap, which has promised to revolutionize the way we interact with the digital world. The technology works by superimposing computer-generated imagery over real world objects by projecting a digital light field into the users eye. Abovitz experience making robotic arms for surgeons transferred over to his obsession with creating a virtual reality product that keeps you grounded in the real world.

At first, the prototypes that Abovitz and his team put together were massive, some taking up an entire room, a far-cry from the portable glasses he envisioned would contain this technology. As the company continued to develop their mixed reality technology, the prototypes became smaller, thought at a high price. So far, that is the biggest problem they have been faced with, as they continue to shrink the unit into something more suitable for everyday use.

The exciting part about Magic Leap and their mixed reality technology is the fact that it will give users the ability to interact with a digital world that is overlaid with physical reality. The headset and computer on Lightwear will actually allow users to move digital things around with your fingers. Magic Leap essentially makes it so you never need to use another display ever again. Want to watch your favorite sports game? Magic Leap can conjure up a screen as big as you want playing the game at high definition, and only you can see it.

The possibilities for this technology are quite endless, and if they are capable of shrinking the device down to a size appropriate for commercial use. Magic Leap has promised to have a model available for retail this year, but there has been no word on the pricing of the model, or whether it will do everything the company has promised with their mixed reality technology.

Augmented reality is a technology that is quickly becoming the next frontier, and Magic Leap is hoping to absolutely innovate in the field. 2018 should be an exciting year for Magic Leap, so be on the lookout for the release of their Lightwear.