Located in the Swiss Alps, CREAL is a small but mighty team of scientists, engineers, and designers working to develop a new class of display devices. The company is currently in the hardware development phase and is on track to make its wares available to the masses in the not too distant future. The company’s first product will be a pair of light field-based AR glasses. To date, the company has raised a whopping CHF 14.2 million.
CREAL is currently located inside the EPFL campus, which is one of the world’s most prestigious tech universities. This has helped the company to tap into a well-deserved cachet. To date, CREAL has assembled a whopping 18 scientists and engineers with a smattering of other notables. The company recently closed a major 4.3M series A+ funding round led by Swisscom Ventures, an investment arm of the Swiss telecom giant. The new funding will help the company to make its next product development a reality.
The company also received a 2.5M EIC grant from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The company also recently made its first public appearance at a press conference, where it unveiled its flagship product, the CREAL Optical augmented reality glasses. The company cites its main objective as developing an efficient and effective light-field display technology that can replace the old flat screen in a new generation of AR glasses. The company intends to use the funding to develop the next generation of augmented reality devices. Despite its adversities, the company appears to be off to a flying start. The company had more than a few patents and patent applications on file.
The company has also landed a number of major industry awards. The company’s chief scientific officer, Tomas Sluka, was named the top scientist in Europe in 2016. The company has also received two awards from the Swiss Academy of Sciences and Technology, including the top prize in the prestigious award competition for light field display technologies.
Technology
Founded by Dr Tomas Sluka, CREAL develops light field solutions for extended reality applications. Its mission is to produce efficient, light ield displays for real-time 3D visual effects. It employs a combination of light-field and non-light-field displays.
Creal’s light-field technology creates true 3D images that blend seamlessly with the real world. The system enables the human eye to focus on virtual objects at any depth in a scene.
Creal’s technology is based on a microlens array, which casts light in a certain direction. The light rays are then bent by a light modulator. The results are images with hologram-like optical depth and nuance.
Creal’s latest AR prototype offers the highest quality digital imagery. The system works with video-game cameras to generate light-field images. These images are then projected onto an AR space. The images have good quality and good contrast.
CREAL plans to build reference designs for other companies to use. The company is also considering producing a small-scale version of its system, which will be able to fit into a head-mounted form factor.
The company has a small team of highly-skilled employees, including employees from Intel and Magic Leap. The company has also received a series of investment rounds in recent years, including a $7.2 million investment.
Creal’s light field display technology will offer strain-free, immersive vision in virtual reality. The headset will be able to adjust its focal depth to suit the scene. It will also have a tethered form factor. Creal plans to have the system ready for market.
CREAL’s CEO Dr Tomas Sluka believes that the focus effect is crucial for the future of AR/VR. Tomas was inspired by the first commercial VR headsets in 2014. He realised that the problem was due to the lack of focal depth in 3D imagery. He is now working to make the visual experience better.
Current prototype
Despite being tethered to the earth, the latest iteration of Creal’s AR headset is a tad bulky. It is, however, a worthy competitor in the head mounted light field arena. For comparison’s sake, it isn’t far behind the likes of the HoloLens or Magic Leap. It is also notable for being the first of its kind to use the Intel RealSense sensor as its back-end augmented reality platform.
The company enlisted the aid of Intel to churn out a bespoke software suite, which is responsible for a tad over a year’s worth of development. The team shrewdly opted to not reinvent the wheel. This meant that they could take advantage of Intel’s existing high-end GPUs and CPUs. As such, they were able to produce an augmented reality headset of nearly unheard of quality. The company has also been able to slash the price of the hardware by more than half, a feat of the type rarely seen in the consumer electronics arena.
A quick look at the company’s recent press release should tell you that its founders are hardly amateurs. They have a knack for the big and small, and have amassed a legit retinue of up to 20 specialized employees. The company has been the beneficiary of the latest and greatest in funding, averaging some $7.2 million a year. A recent round of VC funding in the form of angel and venture capitalists has only helped bolster the company’s wallet. Despite being a startup, Creal’s biggest rivals Magic Leap and HoloLens have sunk some of their best and brightest into the ring. The company is currently in the process of lining up a few marquee partners to test its wares, but it won’t be long until we are treated to a consumer friendly version of Creal’s latest incarnation. The company is currently seeking partnerships in the virtual reality space, with a focus on augmented and mixed reality applications. With a slew of AR and VR headsets on the horizon, CREAL is well placed to make a name for itself.
Future plans
Currently, there are a number of Augmented Reality headsets on the market. They have two flat screens, one of which is used to project three-dimensional images. This creates a stereoscopic illusion of the three-dimensional image. The eyes have to work to focus on the correct distance and this can cause eye strain. The company CREAL is working on a light-field display to mimic human vision and replace flat screens with a display that projects three-dimensional hologram-like imagery.
The company is currently working on a prototype that will work in a head-mounted form factor. The prototype currently includes a hand-tracking system and an Intel RealSense sensor, and a tethered display. The prototype is approaching the size of the HoloLens. The company plans to have the headset ready by late 2022. It is still too early to say if the technology will be ready for prime time. The company has been able to reduce the size of the electronics and projection module to a point where they will fit in a head-mount form factor.
The company has received new funding, and plans to use the funds to further develop and miniaturize the technology. The company is also looking to work with partners to develop the technology into a complete technology package that can be licensed to manufacturers. Its new funding will be used to add new talent, develop a more refined light-field display, and increase its staff. The company’s new light-field display technology will be used in the next generation of Augmented Reality glasses.
CREAL is planning to develop the light-field display technology into a complete package, which will include a glasses form factor, a headset, and a handheld device. This light-field display technology will improve the user experience and make the next generation of AR devices more attractive. The company is working to bring its light-field display technology to market as a complete package, but does not plan to manufacture its own headsets. Instead, it is looking to sell its technology to other headset makers.
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