u/AR_MR_XR

The VIVA Project is setting a new standard for next-generation smart glasses by developing a camera-free, ultra-lightweight 𝗲𝘆𝗲-𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 solution designed to fit seamlessly into everyday eyewear frames.

The consortium's primary objective is to significantly reduce power consumption and minimize data collection. By replacing traditional imaging systems with laser-based sensing, the technology tracks gaze intent by measuring light reflections rather than capturing video. This optimizes battery efficiency and ensures user privacy by design.

The hardware architecture relies on a precise integration of flat optics and micro-electronics. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 provides the foundational smart glasses frame prototype and the auto-focal "Switch Morrow Lens" platform where the entire system is integrated. 𝗕𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗰 drives the overall system architecture, contributing the camera-free Laser Feedback Interferometry (LFI) sensing technology and a custom ASIC. 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣𝗙 Photonic Components delivers the high-precision 940nm SMI VCSEL laser sources, while 𝗡𝗜𝗟 𝗧echnology designs and fabricates the ultra-thin, nanometer-scale Meta-Optical Elements (MOEs). Completing the system, Sigma Connectivity develops the main PCB, and FORTecH Software alongside UPNA supply the specialized firmware and embedded AI gaze-estimation algorithms.

Achieving tracking speeds over 100Hz with greater than 95% reliability, this lightweight, camera-free framework enables seamless, hands-free interaction. Immediate applications include Morrow's lenses adjusting their focus automatically based on real-time reading patterns, alongside industrial solutions like cognitive load and driver attention monitoring.

VIVA Project: https://www.vivaproject.eu/en/

New article about the VIVA Project: newelectronics.co.uk

Google teased the new Gentle Monster AI camera glasses at I/O, but that design is just a preview. A full "intelligent eyewear" collection—powered by Google Gemini and Samsung hardware—is officially dropping in Fall 2026.

I'm still trying to figure out what the differences to Meta's current glasses will be. Google calls them "audio glasses", so what are the audio features? For one, they emphasize the directional audio. Up to a certain audio level, what's coming out of the speakers will not be hearable by others around the user. But then there's also what spatial audio, according to what Gemini has gathered from the news, it's something like this:

𝗦𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸

Ray-Ban Meta: The glasses feature basic stereo speakers. While they have a 5-mic array that can record immersive spatial audio for videos you shoot, they do not dynamically spatialize live AI audio cues or assistant responses around you based on your head movements. When Meta AI talks to you, or when you get navigation prompts, the voice sounds like it is simply inside your head or in standard stereo.

Android XR: Because Android XR is built from the ground up as a spatial computing platform, it uses continuous head-tracking. If the assistant points out a landmark on your right, the audio cue will physically process as though it is originating from that specific 3D coordinate on your right. If you turn your head toward it, the sound shifts to the center.

𝗣𝗲𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Ray-Ban Meta: Meta recently rolled out enhanced pedestrian navigation features, allowing you to ask Meta AI for walking directions. On the standard smart glasses, it delivers these as traditional, spoken turn-by-turn stereo prompts (e.g., "In 50 feet, turn left"). (Note: Meta does have head-tracked navigation, but that is reserved for their display-based models like the Ray-Ban Display variants, which use visual overlays).

Android XR: Even on the initial screenless audio-only glasses, the platform uses its positional awareness to "anchor" the voice to the physical street corner. You don't just hear the command; you hear the sound coming from the direction of the street you are supposed to turn onto.

Mitsui Chemicals is establishing a commercial production line for its Diffrar™ optical resin wafers at its Nagoya Works facility. This shifts the technology from pilot phases to high-volume manufacturing.

The production line scales the casting of ultra-high refractive index polymers (1.67 and 1.74) to a 12-inch wafer format. Traditionally, high-index polymer nanoimprinting has been restricted to smaller 6-inch or 8-inch substrates. Bringing 12-inch resin wafers to market allows optical engine manufacturers to utilize standard, high-throughput semiconductor fabrication lines. This improves yield efficiency and lowers the per-unit cost of waveguides.

From a material standpoint, replacing glass substrates with these specialized polymers reduces component weight. For example, a single-layer full-color waveguide developed with this material weighs 1.85 grams while maintaining a Total Thickness Variation of less than or equal to 1 µm.

By resolving the dual bottlenecks of component weight and wafer scale, this production capacity establishes a more viable path toward consumer-grade smart glasses.

Meta and EssilorLuxottica are expanding their AI camera glasses footprint into Japan tomorrow, May 21st. Meta is intentionally leveraging Japan's high-density daily eyewear market by embedding AI into a utility that a vast percentage of the local population already wears on a daily basis.

To facilitate local adoption, the launch introduces critical physical adaptations optimized for Asian facial structures, including interchangeable nose pads, adjustable temple tips, and a wider hinge range. A dedicated physical action button has also been integrated, mitigating the social friction of voice-activating an AI in crowded public spaces by allowing for discreet, tactile interaction.

The expansion also marks the formal debut of the Oakley Meta line, pushing the ecosystem into ruggedized sportswear. The top-tier Oakley Vanguard model introduces an expanded 122-degree field of view camera, active wind-noise reduction, and an IP67 dust and waterproof rating.

Financially, the commercial framework targets the premium luxury tier. Local pricing reflects a high-margin strategy, starting at ¥73,700 for the base Ray-Ban models and scaling up to ¥96,580 for the specialized Oakley performance gear. While core capture features are active tomorrow, complex localized software like real-time Japanese voice translation will deploy sequentially in the coming weeks, making this an essential case study in regional hardware customization.

Huge thanks to u/backlon for stopping by the booth to check out the hardware! 🕶️

If you're a developer looking to get early access to hardware development kits like r/Xreal's Project Aura, be sure to check out the Android XR Developer Catalyst Program.

🔗 Apply here: https://developer.android.com/develop/xr/catalyst

Project Aura opens up possibilities that simply weren't achievable before. Because it is built on Android, your favorite apps from Google Play run seamlessly on Aura. You can access Google apps that have been reimagined for XR, totally new experiences made for Android XR by developers, and millions of mobile and tablet apps. But the experience goes far beyond traditional screens:

• Massive Visuals: A 70° field of view in a lightweight form factor.
• Natural Inputs: Hands and voice are built as first-class inputs.
• Spatial Computing: Interact with multi-window apps naturally anchored to the world around you.
• Contextual AI: Gemini is built for it, to better understand what you’re seeing and doing, making it easier to get the help you need or take action on your behalf across your apps — with just a conversation
• Seamless Integration: Enjoy everyday utility in a lightweight, optical see-through form factor that keeps you present in the moment.

Build the Next Era of XR with Us

We are thrilled to bring this technology to the public, but to deliver the absolute best Android XR experience for everyone, we need the help of talented developers to build the apps that will define it.

The Android XR Developer Catalyst Program is now open. By applying, you can stand a chance to receive your Project Aura dev kit, gain full access to the Android XR SDK, and utilize new XR capabilities and APIs to take your existing apps further than ever before.

The developers who move first on a platform like this are the ones who will define its future. Dev kits begin shipping this summer, and Cohort 1 is strictly limited.

Whether you’re a consumer or a developer looking to build with us by registering for our Developer Catalyst Program, visit our official website to learn more: https://www.xreal.com/aura

Dev Program: https://developer.android.com/develop/xr/catalyst

https://www.gentlemonster.com/int/en/intelligent-eyewear

Swiss semiconductor startup Mosaic SoC has closed a €3.2 million pre-seed round, aiming to solve the severe power and form-factor barriers currently holding back the AR glasses market.

To achieve true augmented reality, devices require continuous spatial mapping and environment tracking. However, these features typically rely on power-hungry GPUs and main processors, making lightweight, all-day wearable smart glasses unfeasible. Mosaic addresses this bottleneck with a proprietary, low-power 8+ core perception chip. By offloading spatial awareness, the silicon enables always-on environmental understanding while allowing AR hardware to remain indistinguishable from regular eyewear.

To streamline adoption for ODMs building next-generation AR hardware, the chip removes integration complexity by shipping with a pre-built application layer and AI deployment toolchain. Founded in 2024, the company is already generating revenue through NRE contracts with hardware partners as it scales toward production chip sales.

More: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/04/swiss-semiconductor-startup-mosaic-soc-raises-e3-2-million-to-bring-spatial-intelligence-to-low-power-devices/

Lenskart has officially started early access for its new AI camera glasses, a crucial phase designed to gather real-world insights before taking the product global. By opening up sales to their 35,000+ waitlisted customers at a discounted ₹22,000 (~$230 USD), the company aims to learn exactly what Indian consumers want, using that feedback to refine the software for a future international version. This initial phase precedes a broader, full-priced commercial launch across retail channels in India at ₹27,000 (~$280 USD).

Weighing just 40 grams, the frames pack a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 processor, ultra-thin blue light lenses, and a 12 MP Sony camera. Driven by Google’s Gemini, the onboard "Buddy" assistant offers multimodal vision across 40+ languages like Hinglish, while the hardware provides up to 48 hours of total battery life and a unique temple-tip cable for direct charging from a smartphone.

By leveraging its extensive vertical integration and in-house manufacturing control, Lenskart is delivering top-tier global processing hardware at a significantly lower price point than current Western alternatives. It will be fascinating to watch how the insights gathered from this initial domestic footprint shape the future global version of the platform.

Source: Lenskart

𝗝𝗕𝗗'𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵: 𝟭𝟮-𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗪𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. As demand for AR smart glasses surges, microLED yield and cost remain critical hurdles. The core issue restricting the industry is a structural size mismatch: advanced silicon backplanes have entered the 12-inch era, but microLED epitaxial layers are still largely constrained to 4-inch sizes.

Traditional manufacturing workarounds are inefficient. Dicing 12-inch backplanes to fit 4-inch wafers caps backplane utilization at just 77%. Alternatively, attempting 8-inch solutions wastes approximately 56% of the silicon backplane and suffers from consistently low yields during bonding and substrate removal.

To solve this, Jade Bird Display (JBD) is bypassing the 8-inch architecture entirely and upgrading our mass production system to a 12-inch "Die-to-Carrier-to-Wafer" bonding solution.

The new architecture operates through a precise sequence. Small-size epitaxial wafers are first diced into individual dies. Defective dies are then actively screened out via rigorous pre-testing and sorting. Following this, the qualified dies are reconstituted onto a temporary 12-inch carrier substrate. Finally, this reconstituted carrier undergoes high-precision, wafer-level hybrid bonding with a matching 12-inch silicon backplane.

This approach effectively marries the process advantages of mature, small-size epitaxy with the scaling power of advanced 12-inch backplanes. By filtering out defective dies at the source, we maximize silicon utilization and significantly reduce backend manufacturing uncertainty.

Currently, our pilot line has completed end-to-end verification, achieving a wafer reconstitution yield exceeding 98%, and the process is rapidly being integrated into our mass production lines.

This architectural upgrade from 4-inch to 12-inch fundamentally lowers costs, stabilizes high-precision hybrid bonding, and provides the critical manufacturing foundation needed to drive the global industrialization of AR smart devices.

Source: JBD

𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗞𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗮, and the timeline just got pushed up. Instead of the previously rumored July release, the hardware is dropping at the end of 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵.

Initial distribution begins May 25. While earlier reports pointed to a rollout via Luxottica's local opticians in July, the latest industry updates confirm Meta is launching through the major department stores: Shinsegae, Hyundai, and Lotte. Shinsegae will stock the hardware across its Ray-Ban locations starting May 25, followed by a dedicated Lotte pop-up in Jamsil in early June. Retail prices are set between 600,000 and 900,000 KRW.

The domestic launch officially activates Meta AI for Korean users. It brings native voice commands, real-time translation, and immediate environmental analysis directly to the device. These capabilities are driven by Muse Spark, the latest multimodal reasoning model developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, which is poised to be a significant upgrade over the previous Llama models.

Source: Maeil Business Newspaper