MAD Gaze
| MAD Gaze | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Industry | Augmented reality |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founder | Jordan Cheng |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong |
| Products | AR and mixed reality smart glasses, smartwatch |
| Website | https://www.madgaze.com |
MAD Gaze is a Hong Kong augmented reality company that designs and manufactures smart glasses for enterprise and consumer use. It was founded in 2013 by Jordan Cheng and operates from Hong Kong with additional teams in Shenzhen, Taiwan, and Singapore.[1][2] The company is known for AR glasses that lean on a single-camera approach to spatial tracking and hand-gesture control, and for funding several of its products through crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.[3][4]
By the start of 2020 MAD Gaze said it had shipped to more than 45 countries and worked with more than 400 corporate clients, including Microsoft, IBM, Sony, and SAP, and it described itself at the time as a leading AR glasses brand in China.[5] Its catalog has grown from monocular displays in the style of Google Glass to lightweight binocular glasses that connect to a phone, console, or PC.[1][6]
History
MAD Gaze was established in May 2013 by Jordan Cheng, a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before founding the AR business, Cheng started MAD MAD, a Hong Kong mobile application development company, in 2012.[1][4] He has presented himself publicly as the "Father of Smart Glass in Hong Kong" and has won local recognition, including a Hong Kong ICT Awards Best Innovation grand award.[4]
The company shipped its first product, a monocular headset called Ares, in late 2016, and followed it with the X5 family and, in 2017, the binocular Vader.[5][6] Through the late 2010s MAD Gaze positioned its glasses against larger rivals such as Microsoft HoloLens and Epson's Moverio line, arguing that a single-camera design and a wider field of view set its hardware apart.[4] In 2021 the company was named champion of the "Maker in China" SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Contest, and it has cited support from Hong Kong's Cyberport incubation programme.[2]
Funding
MAD Gaze raised an early pre-Series A round of about 12 million US dollars in 2019, then closed a Series A round of roughly 18.6 million US dollars in January 2020. The Series A was backed by DNS, a technology firm focused on mobile phone accessories, and the Hong Kong venture fund Black30 Venture. MAD Gaze said the money would fund research into a new generation of smart glasses, optical technology, AR algorithms, and a smartwatch, as well as international expansion.[5] Several of the company's consumer launches were run as crowdfunding campaigns rather than ordinary retail releases: the Glow raised more than 650,000 US dollars on Indiegogo, and the company also ran a Kickstarter campaign for the same glasses.[5][7]
Technology
MAD Gaze builds the optics, sensing, and software for its glasses in house and emphasizes two ideas in particular: hand-gesture control and single-camera spatial tracking. Where some early AR headsets used several cameras to read the environment, MAD Gaze's glasses perform SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) and gesture recognition using a single RGB camera, which the company presents as a way to keep its hardware smaller and cheaper.[1][3] Users interact through pinch, swipe, and tap gestures, with additional control by smartphone, trackpad, voice, or an optional handheld controller.[4][6]
The company's optical approach has shifted over time. Its binocular models initially used birdbath optics, in which light from a small display panel is bounced off a curved semi-reflective combiner toward the eye to form a floating virtual screen. With the Wave, MAD Gaze moved to what it calls a hybrid waveguide optical display, which it describes as lighter, thinner, and more power-efficient than the birdbath design it replaced.[6] The glasses run on Android and ship with a software development kit, and the company distributes applications through its own app store.[3][6]
Products
MAD Gaze's lineup spans early monocular displays, standalone Android headsets, and later phone-tethered binocular glasses, plus a gesture-controlled smartwatch. By its own count the company had launched around seven AR glasses models by 2020.[5] Detailed specifications below are drawn from each product's coverage and reviews.
| Product | Year | Type | Notable specs and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ares | 2016 | Monocular AR glasses | First MAD Gaze product; single-eye display in the style of Google Glass[5][6] |
| X5 / X5S / X5P | 2017 onward | Monocular AR glasses | Google Glass-style single-display family; B2B focused[5][3] |
| MAD Gaze Vader | 2017 | Standalone AR headset | Runs Android with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage; 1280x720 display said to appear as a roughly 90-inch screen; 45-degree field of view; 8MP camera; Wi-Fi and GPS; launched on Kickstarter from 499 US dollars[8][4] |
| MAD Gaze Glow | 2019 | Phone-tethered MR glasses | Binocular glasses weighing about 75 g; 53-degree field of view; lightguide optics; USB-C tether to a phone; SLAM tracking; offered in six colors; raised over 650,000 US dollars on Indiegogo[3][5] |
| MAD Gaze Glow Plus | 2020 | Phone-tethered MR glasses | Updated Glow with 1920x1080-per-eye resolution; birdbath optics; six color options[6] |
| MAD Gaze Wave | 2022 | Phone-tethered MR glasses | Hybrid waveguide optics; OLED 1920x1080 per eye at 60Hz; about 80 g; 40-degree diagonal field of view; 1800 nits; 8MP camera; from 299 US dollars; mass production targeted for early 2022[6] |
| MAD Gaze Watch | announced 2020 | Gesture-controlled smartwatch | Companion wearable announced alongside the glasses business; funded in part by the 2020 Series A[5] |
Market position
MAD Gaze competes in a crowded field of small AR and smart glasses makers that grew up around 2018 to 2022, including Xreal (formerly Nreal), Rokid, and Epson. Coverage at the time placed MAD Gaze among the Chinese consumer AR wave that included the Nreal Light, and reviewers noted that its lower-cost, single-camera approach traded some capability for size and price.[3] The company has leaned on enterprise sales and developer outreach alongside its consumer crowdfunding launches, reporting more than 3,000 registered developers and a base of corporate clients spanning electronics, software, and industrial firms.[5] As of 2020 it described itself as a top-selling AR glasses brand in China, though independent shipment figures for the company are limited.[5][1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Founder's Interview: MAD Gaze". 2020-01-09. https://technode.global/2020/01/09/founders-interview-mad-gaze/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "A powerful vision was essential for setting MAD Gaze's AR smart glasses apart from the crowd". https://www.startmeup.hk/case-studies/a-powerful-vision-was-essential-for-setting-mad-gazes-ar-smart-glasses-apart-from-the-crowd/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Mad Gaze Joins China's Consumer Smartglasses Gold Rush with Glow Wearable". https://next.reality.news/news/mad-gaze-joins-chinas-consumer-smartglasses-gold-rush-with-glow-wearable-0203477/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Hong Kong Startup MAD Gaze Enters the AR Race". 2018-03-20. https://hivelife.com/hong-kong-startup-in-the-ar-smart-glasses-race/.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 "MAD Gaze AR Glasses Closes $18.6M in Series A Funding". https://www.xrom.in/post/mad-gaze-ar-glasses-closes-18-6m-in-series-a-funding.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 "Next-Gen Smart Glasses from Mad Gaze are on the Way". https://displaydaily.com/next-gen-smart-glasses-from-mad-gaze-are-on-the-way/.
- ↑ "MAD Gaze GLOW: Stylish MR Smart Glasses by MAD Gaze". https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madgaze/mad-gaze-glow-lightweight-and-stylish-mr-glasses-for-you.
- ↑ "MAD Gaze wants to slip its Vader AR headset in before the 2020 rush". https://www.wareable.com/ar/mad-gaze-vr-headset-before-2020-340.