Atheer bringing 3D augmented reality and gesture control to Android
Atheer hopes to integrate its augmented reality and gestural control platform into existing mobile operating systems, such as Android, iOS, and Xbox.
If you push virtual content next to peoples' eyes, you need correct calibration, response time, and 3D rendering," said Atheer's computer vision expert Allen Yang. "You need the full experience for this to fly. If it's just nice graphics and the interface doesn't work, it's no good. In the worst case, if the rendering is bad, people will feel dizzy or sick. The interface should learn about you and wrap itself around you."
Yang said that Atheer has intellectual property and systems that train the user's eyes to work better with each other and more comfortably in a 3D environment. Optimizing the visual experience for each user is a core part of Atheer's platform.
"An eye doctor can tell you 10 or 20 things about your eyes," Yang said. "We are a tech company, not a medical device company, so we don't want to reinvent the world. We want to virtually recreate those procedures in an interactive augmented reality environment, and have an audio/video to guide to take users through critical steps to grasp critical parameters of their eyes."
Atheer, based in Mountain View, Calif., employs 20 people and is not venture capital funded so far. The company will work with a few developers this year, Itani said, and expects to have more wearable and aesthetically pleasing glasses early next year.