NOLO VR
| NOLO VR | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Private company |
| Industry | Virtual reality, Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founder | Zhang Daoning |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
| Notable Personnel | Zhang Daoning (Founder and CEO) |
| Products | NOLO CV1, NOLO Sonic, NOLO X1, NOLO Sonic 2, NOLO VR GLASS |
| Website | https://www.nolovr.com |
NOLO VR is a Chinese Virtual Reality hardware company based in Beijing that develops motion tracking systems and standalone headsets for VR and AR. It is the trading name of Beijing Ling Yu Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd., also known as LYRobotix, which was founded in 2015 by Zhang Daoning, who is also the chief executive.[1][2]
The company is known for the NOLO CV1, a 2017 add-on kit that gave low cost smartphone VR headsets six degrees of freedom (6DoF) positional tracking and access to SteamVR games. Its tracking is built on a set of proprietary positioning technologies, marketed as PolarTraq, SodarTraq, and StarTraq, which combine optical, ultrasonic, and radio signals to locate the headset and controllers in a room.[3][4] NOLO later moved from tracking accessories into complete standalone headsets and worked with Chinese carriers, including China Mobile, on 5G cloud VR deployments.[5]
History
Founding
LYRobotix was founded in 2015 in Beijing by Zhang Daoning. The company developed a spatial positioning system aimed at making 6DoF VR affordable, and it adopted the NOLO brand for that product line ahead of CES 2017.[3][2] NOLO has said it filed for patents on its tracking methods from its founding. By 2019 it reported 125 patents authorized or accepted globally, with international patents filed in 12 countries, and by 2021 it reported more than 200 patents across 12 countries.[1][2]
NOLO CV1 and the Kickstarter campaign
NOLO publicly introduced the CV1 tracking kit at CES in January 2017, presenting it as a way to bring positional tracking and SteamVR play to phone based headsets such as Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, and Google Cardboard.[3] The company launched a Kickstarter campaign for the CV1, which reached its 50,000 US dollar goal one day after going live and had raised close to 75,000 US dollars within the first few days, with early bird kits offered at 99 US dollars.[6] The CV1 went on sale in July 2017 at a retail price of about 200 US dollars.[7]
Cloud VR and standalone headsets
At CES 2019 NOLO demonstrated a model of 5G cloud VR, in which a remote GPU renders the game, a 5G network carries the video to a standalone headset, and the CV1 acts as the tracking and input device.[8] The company works with China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom on cloud VR services.[5]
NOLO showed its first inside-out tracked 6DoF all-in-one headset, the NOLO Sonic, at ChinaJoy 2021.[9][10] In January 2023 it announced two further products at CES: the NOLO VR GLASS, a smartphone powered headset shaped like a pair of glasses, and the NOLO Sonic 2, a standalone headset with hand and finger tracking.[11]
Funding
NOLO has raised a reported total of about 45 million US dollars across several rounds. Investors include BlueRun Ventures, Joy Capital, Nio Capital, and China Mobile.[2][4]
| Round | Date | Amount (US dollars) | Lead investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | May 2018 | 10 million | BlueRun Ventures, with Lotus Capital[7] |
| Series A+ | July 2019 | 15 million | Joy Capital, with BlueRun Ventures and Peakview Capital[1] |
| Series B | February 2021 | 20 million | Nio Capital[2] |
The 2019 Series A+ round brought NOLO's cumulative funding to about 24.5 million US dollars, and the company said the capital would go toward research and commercialization of its VR tracking technology.[1] The 2021 Series B, led by Nio Capital, was earmarked for next generation interactive technology, mass production of new products, and content.[2]
Technology
NOLO's tracking is built on proprietary positioning systems that the company markets under three names: PolarTraq, SodarTraq, and StarTraq.[4] PolarTraq fuses optical, acoustic (ultrasonic), and radio signals to locate the headset marker and controllers, which the company says yields high accuracy with low power use and a small form factor.[3][4] SodarTraq is an ultrasonic tracking method that typically uses a tracking ball or beacon attached to the headset.[4] The CV1 used a single base station, a head mounted marker, and two tracked controllers, an arrangement similar in concept to outside-in optical systems such as Lighthouse, but using NOLO's signal fusion approach rather than infrared photodiodes.[3]
For the CV1, NOLO published positioning specifications of better than 2 millimeters precision, under 20 milliseconds latency, and a tracking range of up to 5 meters from the base station, with a 100 degree field of coverage.[3][4]
VR/AR relevance
NOLO's main contribution to VR was making 6DoF tracking, and therefore room scale SteamVR content, reachable on hardware that otherwise had only three degrees of freedom. Phone based headsets of the mid 2010s such as Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, and Google Cardboard tracked head rotation but not position, and they had no positionally tracked controllers. The CV1 added a base station, a head marker, and two Tracked Motion Controllers, converting those headsets into 6DoF systems for roughly the price of the phone holder itself.[3][6]
Because mobile chips of that era could not render PC class VR, NOLO paired the CV1 with streaming software. SteamVR titles ran on a gaming PC and were sent to the phone over Riftcat's VRidge app, with the CV1 relaying head and controller poses back to the PC, so that Valve's and HTC's SteamVR library could be played wirelessly on an Android phone.[3][6] The CV1 controllers were designed to emulate HTC Vive wand input, including triggers and trackpads, so existing SteamVR games would accept them without modification.[3]
The same tracking and input role placed NOLO inside early cloud VR efforts. In the 5G cloud VR model the company demonstrated from 2019, the heavy rendering is done remotely and streamed to a thin standalone headset, while NOLO hardware supplies the 6DoF tracking and controller input on the headset side. That positioning led to its work with Chinese mobile carriers on low cost cloud VR services.[8][5] NOLO's later move into its own standalone headsets, beginning with the Sonic in 2021, shifted the company from selling tracking add-ons into the all-in-one Standalone VR market that came to dominate consumer VR.[5][11]
Products
| Product | Year | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NOLO CV1 | 2017 | 6DoF tracking kit | Base station, head marker, and two tracked controllers that add 6DoF tracking and SteamVR play to phone based headsets; about 200 US dollars at retail after a 99 US dollar Kickstarter early bird tier[3][6][7] |
| NOLO Sonic | 2021 | Standalone headset | NOLO's first inside-out tracked 6DoF all-in-one headset; 4K class display, about 101 degree field of view, 72 Hz refresh, two front cameras, and ultrasonically tracked 6DoF controllers; shown at ChinaJoy 2021[10][9] |
| NOLO VR GLASS | Announced January 2023 | Smartphone powered headset | Lightweight headset worn like glasses, powered by a connected Android phone with no onboard battery or processor; about 92 degree field of view with 3DoF finger ring controllers[11] |
| NOLO Sonic 2 | Announced January 2023 | Standalone headset | All-in-one headset with up to 3664 x 1920 resolution, about 92 degree field of view, up to 120 Hz refresh, and built in hand and finger tracking[11] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "NOLO VR Raises $15M to Further Develop 6DOF Tracking Tech". July 29, 2019. https://www.roadtovr.com/nolo-vr-15-m-funding/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Nio Capital leads $20 million funding for VR firm NOLO VR". February 25, 2021. https://cnevpost.com/2021/02/25/nio-capital-leads-20-million-funding-for-vr-firm-nolo-vr/.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 "NOLO VR Promises $99 Positional Tracking and SteamVR Gaming on Any Mobile VR Headset". January 31, 2017. https://www.roadtovr.com/nolo-mobile-vr-positional-tracking-system-compatible-steamvr-ces-2017/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "NOLO - Motion Tracking for VR/AR". https://nolovr.com/productDetails?lang=en_US.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "NOLO VR Exhibits the Most Cost-Effective 6DoF Cloud VR Device". https://aithority.com/technology/augmented-reality/nolo-vr-exhibits-the-most-cost-effective-6dof-cloud-vr-device-for-mobile/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "NOLO Phone-based SteamVR Project Fully Funded on Kickstarter". January 31, 2017. https://www.uploadvr.com/nolo-turns-phone-steamvr-device-funded-kickstarter/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "NOLO VR Completes $10 Million Series A Financing Led by BlueRun Ventures". May 24, 2018. https://www.roadtovr.com/nolo-vr-completes-10-million-series-financing-led-bluerun-ventures/.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "NOLO VR Introduces a Model of 5G Cloud VR and a 6DoF Mobile VR Battle Royale Game at CES 2019". January 10, 2019. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nolo-vr-introduces-a-model-of-5g-cloud-vr-and-a-6dof-mobile-vr-battle-royale-game-at-ces-2019-300776312.html.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "NOLO VR presents NOLO Sonic and mobile cloud VR at ChinaJoy 2021". August 2021. https://min.news/en/tech/38421f980156dea4f7c655d87cac8eea.html.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The XR Week Peek (2021.06.07): Facebook working on Quest 2 Pro, Nolo and Arpara announce new VR headsets, and more!". June 7, 2021. https://skarredghost.com/2021/06/07/quest-2-pro-nolo-sonic-arpara/.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "NOLO Unveils Two Game-changing VR Headset Models: HMD That Wears Like Glasses, 6DoF VR Headset With Hand and Finger Tracking". January 6, 2023. https://dlightmall.com/blogs/news/nolo-unveils-two-game-changing-vr-headset-models-hmd-that-wears-like-glasses-6dof-vr-headset-with-hand-and-finger-tracking.