ThirdEye
| ThirdEye | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Founder | Nick Cherukuri |
| Headquarters | Princeton, New Jersey, United States |
| Notable Personnel | Nick Cherukuri (Founder and CEO) |
| Products | Mixed reality smart glasses, enterprise AR software |
| Website | https://www.thirdeyegen.com |
ThirdEye (legally ThirdEye Gen, Inc.) is an American Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality company that designs lightweight Smart Glasses and enterprise software. It was founded in 2016 by Nick Cherukuri and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.[1][2] The company provides an all-in-one hardware and software offering, pairing its own glasses with industry applications for sectors such as field service, healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.[1][3]
ThirdEye is best known for the X2 MR Glasses, which it has marketed as among the smallest and lightest Mixed Reality glasses on the market, built around a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 processor and the company's in-house VisionEye SLAM tracking.[2][3] In January 2022 it expanded beyond enterprise with the Razor MR Glasses, its first consumer-oriented device.[4]
History
ThirdEye Gen was founded in 2016 by Nick Cherukuri, who started the company at the age of 22 shortly after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where he had run a student augmented and virtual reality club.[5] Cherukuri was later named to a Forbes 30 Under 30 list.[5] The company drew on a team with a background in defense optics and head-mounted display work, which it has cited as the foundation for its early hardware.[1]
The company's first product, the X1 Augmented Reality Smart Glasses, was announced on October 30, 2017, and shown at CES in January 2018. The X1 used dual stereoscopic see-through displays equivalent to a 90-inch screen viewed from 10 feet, ran Android, and was paired with an enterprise software platform for live "see what I see" remote assistance.[6]
ThirdEye unveiled its successor, the X2 MR Glasses, at CES 2019 and began shipping the device later that year, announcing availability on September 17, 2019.[2][7] Over the following years the company increasingly positioned itself as a software business as much as a hardware maker, building a suite of branded enterprise applications on top of its glasses.[5] In May 2020 it partnered with NuEyes to ship the Pro 2, a version of the X2 hardware running NuEyes software with magnification, contrast overlays, and text-to-speech aids for people with low vision.[8]
On January 3, 2022, ahead of CES 2022, ThirdEye announced the Razor MR Glasses, its first device aimed at consumers, marking an expansion from purely enterprise hardware into what the company described as the consumer metaverse.[4] The company has continued to develop its lineup, including a next-generation X3 model built on the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 platform.[9]
Technology
ThirdEye's glasses are self-contained Android devices rather than display accessories tethered to a separate computer, which distinguishes them from many media-focused Smart Glasses. The X2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 chip with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage under Android 9.0, and presents stereoscopic 1280 x 720 per-eye see-through optics with a roughly 42-degree diagonal Field of View.[3][10]
A central piece of the company's technology is VisionEye, its in-house SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) system, which lets the glasses track their position and detect surfaces for placing 3D content indoors and outdoors without external markers.[2][10] The X2 also carries a 13-megapixel RGB camera, greyscale tracking cameras, an inertial measurement unit, and additional sensors including a low-resolution thermal sensor and an ambient light sensor.[2][3] Hands-free operation is supported through head-motion control, voice commands, and gesture input; for the X2, gesture control was enabled through a partnership with the hand-tracking firm ManoMotion.[3]
On the software side, ThirdEye offers a family of enterprise applications, including RemoteEye for live AR remote assistance and RespondEye, a HIPAA-oriented telehealth application that lets a remote clinician see a first responder's point of view. The glasses run apps distributed through a ThirdEye app store, and the company provides developer tools so third parties can build for the platform.[2][3][6]
Products
ThirdEye's catalog centers on self-contained mixed reality glasses for enterprise, alongside a consumer model introduced in 2022. The figures below reflect manufacturer and press specifications; reported weights for the X2 in particular have varied between sources.
| Product | Year | Type | Notable specs and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| X1 AR Smart Glasses | 2017 (announced), 2018 (CES) | Enterprise AR glasses | First product; dual stereoscopic 720p see-through displays; ~40-degree field of view; runs Android; bundled enterprise remote-assistance software[6][2] |
| X2 MR Glasses | 2019 | Enterprise MR glasses | Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1; Android 9.0; 1280x720 per eye; ~42-degree FOV; 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage; VisionEye SLAM; 13 MP RGB camera; launched at 1,950 US dollars, later listed higher[2][3][10] |
| Pro 2 (with NuEyes) | 2020 | Low-vision assistive glasses | X2 hardware running NuEyes software; magnification, contrast overlays, OCR and text-to-speech for macular degeneration, glaucoma, and other conditions[8] |
| Razor MR Glasses | 2022 | Consumer MR glasses | First consumer device; ~85 grams; 1920x1080 per eye; 70 Hz; ~43-degree FOV; Android 9.0; 0 to -5 diopter adjustment; ~8-hour battery; connects to phones, laptops, and consoles over USB-C or HDMI[4] |
| X3 MR Glasses | Announced | Enterprise MR glasses | Built on Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2; Android 10; 1440x1080 per eye; ~45-degree FOV; 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage; WiFi 6E; stereo 3D capture cameras[9] |
Market position
ThirdEye competes in the enterprise Smart Glasses market against companies such as Vuzix, Magic Leap, and Microsoft, maker of the Microsoft HoloLens.[2] Its strategy has emphasized small, lightweight, self-contained Mixed Reality hardware combined with an in-house software stack and SLAM tracking, sold mainly to businesses for hands-free field work, remote support, and training in sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, and field service.[1][3] With the 2022 launch of the Razor MR Glasses, the company moved to extend that approach to Consumer AR use cases such as gaming, entertainment, and at-home telehealth.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "ThirdEye Gen: The company behind "the world's smallest Mixed Reality smart glasses"". https://thearea.org/thirdeye-gen-the-company-behind-the-worlds-smallest-mixed-reality-smart-glasses/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "ThirdEye launches X2 mixed reality smartglasses for industry workers". September 17, 2019. https://siliconangle.com/2019/09/17/thirdeye-launches-x2-augmented-reality-smartglasses-industry-workers/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "ThirdEye X2 MR: the lightweight MR glasses for the industry". August 6, 2021. https://skarredghost.com/2021/08/06/thirdeye-x2-mr/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "ThirdEye announces lightweight mixed-reality smartglasses for consumers". January 3, 2022. https://siliconangle.com/2022/01/03/thirdeye-announces-lightweight-mixed-reality-smartglasses-consumers/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "ThirdEye Gen releases X1 Augmented Reality Smart Glasses with Enterprise AR Software". October 30, 2017. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thirdeye-gen-releases-x1-augmented-reality-smart-glasses-with-enterprise-ar-software-300545080.html.
- ↑ "ThirdEye Gen Announces Shipments of its X2 Mixed Reality Glasses". https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thirdeye-gen-announces-shipments-of-its-x2-mixed-reality-glasses-300919487.html.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "ThirdEye and NuEyes partner to introduce Pro 2 Smart Glasses for visually impaired". May 19, 2020. https://www.auganix.org/thirdeye-and-nueyes-partner-to-introduce-pro-2-smart-glasses-for-visually-impaired/.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "X3 MR Glasses". https://www.thirdeyegen.com/x3-glasses.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "ThirdEye X2 MR Glasses". https://www.thirdeyegen.com/x2-smart-glasses.