Varjo releases video-pass-through headset XR - 1

Varjo Technologies has developed a new headset named XR-1Developer Edition. Shipping XR-1 to mixed reality developers, designers andresearchers is expected in the second half of 2019.

The XR-1 is capable of delivering photorealistic imagequality with integrated eye tracking. It is the culmination of two and a halfyears of intensive R&D. The XR-1 enables the real and the virtual toachieve true visual parity – with the XR-1, the dream of ‘Hard AR’ (where youcan no longer tell apart what is real and what is virtual) has at last beenachieved.

The XR-1 upgrades Varjo’s human-eye resolution headset(VR-1) with a front plate featuring dual 12 mpx cameras. The core technologymakes photorealism possible with video-pass-through. It means that the deviceuses cameras to digitize the world in real time, and then multiplexes it insidethe GPU with the virtual content to show the combined result to the user.

The XR-1 enables users to examine photorealistic mixedreality in a full field of view. With the XR-1, virtual objects appear as realas anything in the physical world and can themselves cast shadows or evenilluminate reality. Black objects appear truly black, opaque objects indeedblock real or virtual light, and semi-transparent objects will refract thelight from the real world behind it.

For the first time, users can also switch seamlessly betweenmixed reality and full virtual reality modes. The depth sensors in XR-1 allowmapping real-life objects and environments for building natural occlusion.Examples of industrial applications for the device include UX design,collaboration with photorealistic 3D models, training and simulation, as wellas unique research and data analytics across real and virtual environments withXR-1’s 20/20 Eye Tracker.

“XR-1 brings all the convenience of seeing your body as wellas the real world around you and being able to look at your colleagues whiledesigning a virtual object or environment,” said Urho Konttori, chief product officerand co-founder of Varjo.