Hey Hunters! Extremely excited to be exiting stealth and sharing our grand vision to the world :)
About a year ago, I did something pretty crazy that no 20-something would ever dare to do –I deleted all social media off my phone.
I know that doesn’t sound entirely profound, but what it forced me to do for a few months was to observe from an outside perspective that despite how much the internet + social media connect people in the digital world, it isolates us from each other so much in the physical world
And what I realized is it’s all because the interface to the digital world (the phone screen) currently forces to focus either on the physical environment or the digital world.
That’s why I’m so fascinated with augmented reality, a technology that seamlessly blends the digital and physical worlds, because it has the potential to solve this problem and enhance how we interact with our technology, and how we interact with each other.
But even after realizing this, the problem was that as developers and enthusiasts in the space, all the AR headset technology out there was so expensive + enterprise-facing, there was no solution for us to start exploring how this tech can actually fit into our daily lives. And that’s how Mira came to be – we’re building the most accessible and social consumer-facing AR platform.
Our three cofounders all met in the inaugural class of the Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation. During our time there, I was working in AR on the enterprise side of the spectrum, while my other cofounders were working on the consumer-end building entertainment based content for virtual reality at Sony Pictures.
But unlike virtual reality that is fully immersive and isolates a user from their physical world, we wanted to see if we could develop for the freeing power of augmented reality in which users could look through transparent lenses to see their physical environment naturally with overlaid holographics interwoven into their world.
In addition the VR landscape exists today as a myriad of devices from the high end of the spectrum down to the more accessible smartphone-powered headsets, whereas the AR space is significantly more fragmented— high end expensive hardware and low end phone-based software proofs of concept AR applications.
So rather than spending thousands on an existing AR developer kit, we began to build our own. We started by sourcing Android spec phones and components from Alibaba, 3D printing bodies, and cutting lenses out of plastic fishbowls to build these devices.
After months of iteration and tweaking, we designed the Mira Prism headset which is what we are very proud to be launching today. The Prism is a minimalist, untethered, smartphone-powered AR headset that digitally imposes holographics into the physical world, providing a window into the interactive world of AR and a new dimension of social experiences.
@filthytaft i don't want to be harsh on such an early version product. But, do you really believe people will use this product all day long? Your product is HUGE. You say, this is your solution to have technology help connections get more "in real-life", I assume you believe people will have this product outside of their home than? Do you really see people having this thing on their head, in a bus, in the street, or anywhere public?
Nothing this huge and ugly can reach to the actual market. Only teach heads can give it a try, use it for a few hours, than let it go. Just like any toys.
(Again, sorry for the feedback being so harsh, I do hope you can make it look better and still keep the same price though).
@samilkarahisar really appreciate the thought, not harsh at all! It's definitely going to take a while for society to get used to people walking around outside with AR glasses on. This current form factor isn't necessarily what's going to get adopted for that – this is just a way to get people to enjoy a premium AR experience in their homes. Developers can build apps that are both handheld and headset compatible, so you can imagine walking around outside with your phone Pokemon Go style, coming home, popping your phone into the headset, and continuing that same experience in a more immersive manner. The "real life connection" aspect comes when you and your friend can maintain eye contact and look at a floating hologram together. That moment is pretty magical and that can evolve into the entire world connecting in the AR world. And we are actively exploring how to slim the form factor down into the future :)
Man, I really afraid of such future! I don't need such virtual future, like in futuristic films. I do not see any goodness of VR. The main harm it is making - harm to eyes and your brain!
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The story of the Mira team and their execution to the point of launch and funding is amazing.
Pros:Sleek design and works with just an iPhone!
Cons:Need to see new content delivered (which is currently being developed)