Plug Your iPhone Into This Headset and You’re Holographic

There is a host of valuable information about augmented reality on Wikitude. If you are a software engineer, you are likely already familiar with the company. They have 100,000 developers, 25,000 published apps and 1 billion app installations. Based out of Salzburg, Austria, their Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) Software Developer Kit (SDK) recently won this year’s “Best Developer Tool” award at the Augmented World Expo (AWE).

Mira is a company that produces an augmented reality headset called Mira Prism. It costs $99, which immediately differentiates it from standalone headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Think hands-free applications – beyond entertainment. A warehouse worker could use this, a surgeon could use this, an architect could walk through a 3D design model and plumbers could easily look up schematics. It’s bulky though, and looks sort of unwieldy. (Image courtesy of Mira)

The fact that it allows users to experience their iPhone 6, 6s or 7 through a holographic headset (that is affordable) could give a much broader range of people the chance to try it out.

As it turns out, this burgeoning company has seed investment from the renowned investment firm Sequoia Capital (which is invested in Apple, Oracle, Google, and Cisco) as well as investments from will.i.am and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, among others.

Wikitude and Mira Enter Into a Partnership

Wikitude released a statement concerning their new partnership with Mira, the fruits of which will be available this fall. Here’s the scoop: Wikitude has optimized its SDK 7 – an AR tool kit powered with object recognition, multi-target recognition and Hit-Testing API for SLAM –and are now ready for engineers to get their hands on the tech this fall. The SDK 7 will be optimized specifically for the Mira Prism iPhone-based headset.

A training application built from Wikitude’s SDK, showing a 3D model overlay of a component designed on paper and presented on an iPad. (Image courtesy of Wikitude)

The Mira Prism headset uses the iPhone’s front camera and employs Wikitude’s advanced image recognition computer vision technology for single and multiple target images. The potential stored within the device is enormous, and the experiences that are possible through SLAM-based augmented reality headset are virtually limitless.

Though the headset appears bulky, it is interesting to ponder whether or not users will be willing to don a hefty technological crown like the Mira Prism (which obstructs normal vision and may cause motion sickness) if the device can provide them with the ability to step into an entirely new digital realm.

Ultimately no one knows, but if you’re interested enough in augmented reality, give the headset a shot with an open mind, and maybe you’ll be surprised.

Check out the Wikitude blog for additional details and other information regarding augmented reality.