Yesterday here in Silicon Valley I was surprised to find a new feature that may have solved one of the biggest problems of VR demos. I was introduced by George Zao, CEO of VOY Glasses, who showed me his prescription contact lenses.
The problem with prescription glasses
Wearing glasses inside a VR headset is not comfortable: it’s gotten better over the years (Meta Quest ships with a longer windshield for comfort when wearing glasses), but it’s never been fun. Fortunately There are companies that offer XR sunglasses: these things are inserts that you put on top of your sunglasses and have a lens that can change the shape of your eye. They are usually good, but they have problems They are customized to your eye instructions. If you’re buying it for the head you just use it yourself, than it’s amazing, but it’s a bit difficult for headphones that work in shared mode.
If the VR headset is shared by all family members, for example, you should continue to exchange your content depending on who is using the device, which is confusing. In business settings, you have the same problem if multiple people need to use the same topic for training. When doing public demonstrations, “Can I keep my glasses?” is a question you hear from people who are testing your experience at shows. Carrying a suitcase full of prescription glasses and fitting them (and cleaning them…) for every person who comes to your home, will take a lot of time. So often in public meetings, companies don’t use prescription glasses, and allow people to keep their glasses inside the head, for better performance.
VOY input glasses
VOY glasses can solve this problem and A prescription lens to rule them all: it’s a mount that you put on your head lens, just like everything else on the market, but and a slider that allows you to choose your product. This means that you only need to put two “tunable” lenses, one for each eye, and then each person using the headset will simply choose what they write to use the device with maximum comfort.
The slider is mechanical and has 6 types of treatment. Mr. Zhao told me that there are currently two types of glasses: from 0 to -6 (for myopia only) and from -3 to +3 (covering both myopia and presbyopia). He said it was myopia range, glasses can cover 80% of people with this problem. Slider with which you change the parameters of the light provides more advanced features: so if you put it between -2 and -3, it will have -2.5 as the medicine value.
I was surprised at how simple this idea seemed but at the same time very effective. Thanks to this tool, it is possible to create VR demos in a very straightforward way: you just need to ask your visitor what his facial expressions are, put them on the fly with a slider, and then put the head on his head. And for cleaning, you only need to clean the lens itself. It’s really amazing.
How does it work?
Mr. Zhao can make this device because he is an electrician with many years of experience. He realized that we’ve been using lens form factors for years, and he wanted to create this.
They used the analysis principle that was developed independently by Luis Alvarez and Adolph Lohmann which says that if you make two lenses of the same unique shape (the surface looks like waves in the ocean), the combination of the two lenses will be like a lens with different levels depending on the shape of the lenses. That is: if you open one of the two mirrors, the “outgoing mirror” of the whole optical system will change its fixed distance.
George told me that he started from this point and built new things on top of it, creating the patented technology that they use in their glasses. But the basic principle is the same: there is one lens that is fixed inside the frame of the mount, and then there is another lens that moves when you move the slider. When the movable lens moves, it changes the focus of the optical system, they will prepare different types of medicine.
He also told me that making such a plan is not easy either it requires special machines with nanometric precision. Without this precision, the lens system does not have the quality it needs to provide the best quality of vision to the user.
Now and then
VOY Glass headsets are now available for a few headsets from Meta and Lenovo. The company is looking to develop additional accessories, such as the Apple Vision Pro.
Anyone can buy these tools, and the company is analyzing consumer and business usage. In terms of business, VOY aims to cooperate with distributors who can take care of all the necessary services (such as customer support, fast exchange, etc…) that are usually provided in the B2B sector. VOY just wants to keep doing what it does best (which is making great looking machines). I leave the rest to companies that are focused on it.
As for what will happen in the future, I think it would be great if one day such a lens will be integrated into the device’s eye tracking system. If eye-tracking cameras can automatically detect what’s around the user’s input, the headset can input IPD and commands that are written to the eyes during eye-tracking. I don’t know when this will be available, but it could improve the usability of the XR headphones in the public domain.
Price and availability
VOY Glass kits are available now on its website: those for the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 cost $59, while the Lenovo ThindReality VRX kit is priced at $69.
By hand
I played around a bit with the placement of the VOY Glasses and my Quest 3 with me I can express my first thoughts on them.
Planning is easy, you should do it align the insert pattern with the headset lens pattern and press the insert until it clicks. The first time I did it, I had a hard time understanding where it was right, but after doing it the first time, I was able to do it sometimes without too much trouble. Once connected, it is permanent: I tried setting my head and drying it 10 times in a row, and also making the setting collide with my forehead, but it didn’t hurt. This is good.
Deliberately removing them from their place is very easy: you have to pull the tool and turn it slowly and it will come off without any problem.
The glasses looked well made, and the slider worked without a problem. I’m a little worried about what might happen if you move the slider a few times a day, like a day of exposure, because I’m afraid it might loosen up a bit. I moved it a few times and it’s still tight, so it resists, but to test its quality it must be tested in real situations of demonstration.
Mirrors are visible as well having a greenish sheen, so they also filter blue rays, I think. I thought that depending on the position of my eye and the lens, the shape of the light would change, but this is not the case. When the two lenses reach a certain point, they form an image that looks like a single lens, not depending on where you put your eye you have a different distance. I don’t have eye damage, so I can’t judge the optical controls, but I can evaluate their performance at position “0”.
Putting it on my Quest, I saw it more or less the fields of light appear unchanged at first glance: The FOV and clarity of the display looks the same with or without the insert. But on closer inspection, I noticed two small things: first, they make a little shake at the edges of the vision, so when you turn your head, you feel a little bit that something is going wrong. It’s not a big deal and it doesn’t ruin the whole experience, but it’s noticeable. Second, clarity at the edges of vision is also slightly blurred: I tried to read the text on my right without glasses, and with the medicine, it was very confusing. Again, this is not a big deal, but I have to say it.
There is also a small problem with comfort. The lens of this lens is a bit thick as well when you wear it, you can feel its border near your eye and brow bone. George told me to avoid this you must wear a spacer for the head glasses (it’s also written in the installation instructions), but I don’t have it with me so I can’t test this. This is a problem with other VR headsets, but these are a little thicker because they have to have two lenses, so the comfort is a little worse than others I’ve tried.
Final results
I am very impressed with VOY Glasses: They can provide a very effective solution to ensure that VR users have a better experience in environments where multiple people use the same subject, such as corporate training programs or VR shows. The product is practical, durable, and has an affordable price. There are some small things but for me, they don’t spoil the overall experience of VR, especially if we consider the short time of the presentation in the event. I think this device is something that adds value to our environment.
If you’re going to be at AWE, you should know VOY will have a cabin there, so you will be able to test the product with your own eyes. I recommend you try it because it’s a very interesting tool.
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