Magic Leap

Magic Leap
Type of business Private
Headquarters Dania Beach, FL
Founder(s) Rony Abovitz
Key people Richard Taylor
Graeme Devine
Sundar Pichai
Rio Caraeff
Website magicleap.com
Launched 2010 (2010)
Current status Active

Magic Leap is a US startup company that is working on a head-mounted virtual retinal display which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects, by projecting a digital light field into the user's eye.[1][2] It is attempting to construct a light-field chip using silicon photonics.[3]

History

Magic Leap was founded by Rony Abovitz in 2010.[4] In October 2014, when the company was still operating in stealth mode (but already reported to be working on projects relating to augmented reality and computer vision), it had raised more than $540 million of venture funding from Google,[5] Qualcomm, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, among other investors.[6][7] Richard Taylor of special effects company Weta Workshop is involved in Magic Leap alongside Abovitz.[8] Science fiction author Neal Stephenson joined the company in December 2014.[1] Graeme Devine is their Chief Creative Officer & Senior VP Games, Apps and Creative Experiences.[9]

According to past versions of its website, the startup evolved from a company named "Magic Leap Studios" which around 2010 was working on a graphic novel and a feature film series, and in 2011 became a corporation, releasing an augmented reality app at Comic-Con that year.[8]

A November 2014 analysis by Gizmodo, based on job listings, trademark registrations and patent applications from Magic Leap, concluded that the company appears to aim at building "a Google Glass on steroids that can seamlessly blend computer-generated graphics with the real world".[8] It has also been compared to Microsoft HoloLens.[1]

Before Magic Leap, a head-mounted display using light fields was already demonstrated by Nvidia in 2013, and the MIT Media Lab has also constructed a 3D display using "compressed light fields"; however Magic Leap asserts that it achieves better resolution with a new proprietary technique that projects an image directly onto the user's retina.[4] According to a researcher who has studied the company's patents, Magic Leap is likely to use stacked silicon waveguides.[3]

On March 19, 2015 Magic Leap released a demo video titled "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap". The video includes augmented reality gaming and productivity applications but it was unclear if the video was actual footage using their technology or a simulated experience.[10]

On October 10, 2015 Magic Leap released actual footage of their product. While still not showing any hardware, the footage claims that it was filmed through a Magic Leap technology without the use of special effects or compositing. The video suggests that virtual 3D objects can be occluded by real objects, which may be predefined geometry in the scene but lead to the speculation of 3D spatial mapping being used. It also shows virtual light reflecting from a real table, which seem to be not correctly placed in space and therefore may suggest that the reflections are part of the virtual scene without interacting with the real world (as simple faked shadows in early video games). The video showcases only quite bright objects superimposed over dark areas of the real world. This suggests that the hardware can only add new light without blocking incoming light from the real world. This would allow to render only fully transparent objects which emit or reflect light, and may not allow virtual objects to occlude real objects. This would work well for bright virtual objects in front of dark real backgrounds as in the video, but not work for darker virtual objects in front of brighter real backgrounds.[11]

On December 9, 2015, Forbes reported on documents filed in the state of Delaware, indicating a Series C funding round of $827m. This funding round could bring the company’s total funding to $1.4 billion, and its post-money valuation to $3.7 billion.[12]

On February 2, 2016, Financial Times reported that Magic Leap further raised another funding round of close to $800m, valuing the startup at $4.5 billion.[13]

On February 11, 2016, Silicon Angle reported that Magic Leap had joined the Entertainment Software Association.[14]

In April, 2016, Magic Leap acquired Israeli cybersecurity company NorthBit.[15]

Magic Leap has raised $1.4 billion from a list of investors including Google and China's Alibaba Group.[16]

On June 16, 2016, Magic Leap announced a partnership with Disney's Lucasfilm and its ILMxLAB R&D unit. The two companies will form a joint research lab at Lucasfilm's San Francisco campus.[17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lapowsky, Issie (2015-02-24). "Magic Leap CEO Teases 'Golden Tickets' for Its Augmented-Reality Device". Wired.
  2. ↑ Huet, Ellen (2015-02-24). "Magic Leap CEO: Augmented Reality Could Replace Smartphones". Forbes.com.
  3. 1 2 Bourzac, Katherine (2015-06-11). "Can Magic Leap Do What It Claims with $592 Million?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
  4. 1 2 Markoff, John (July 14, 2014). "Real-Life Illness in a Virtual World". New York Times.
  5. ↑ The company, not its investment arm Google Ventures
  6. ↑ David Lidsky (October 21, 2014). "So Badass You Can't Believe It". Fast Company.
  7. ↑ David Gelles and Michael J. de la Merced (October 21, 2014). "Google Invests Heavily in Magic Leap's Effort to Blend Illusion and Reality". New York Times.
  8. 1 2 3 Hollister, Sean (November 19, 2014). "How Magic Leap Is Secretly Creating a New Alternate Reality". Gizmodo.
  9. ↑ EmTech Digital, MIT Technology Review. "10 Breakthrough Technologies 2015 - Magic Leap". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Etherington, Darrell. "Watch Magic Leap's Video Of Seamless Augmented Reality Office Game Play". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  11. ↑ "Stunning Magic Leap demo is as real as augmented reality gets - CNET". CNET. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  12. ↑ "Secretive Augmented Reality Startup Magic Leap Raising $827 Million". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  13. ↑ Bradshaw, Tim (2016-02-02). "Magic Leap raises $800m from Alibaba, Warner Bros and Google". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  14. ↑ "AR and VR firms Magic Leap and Virtuix join the Entertainment Software Association". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  15. ↑ "Magic Leap Acquires Israeli Cyber Security Company NorthBit". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  16. ↑ "Magic raises $ 1.4 billion". Yahoo Tech. May 27, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2016. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  17. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2016-06-16). "Lucasfilm Developing 'Star Wars' Augmented-Reality Content Under Pact With Magic Leap (VIDEO)". Variety. Retrieved 2016-06-22.

Further reading

External links

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