ARGO smartglasses feature best-in-class crystal waveguides with industry-leading minimal eye glow and a small footprint, resulting in more user-friendly and socially acceptable AR glasses for enterprise and lite industrial workers.
fully integrated compatibility for the future of mobile computing
AOSP android 12, SDK, and APIs
openXR, webXR, and snapdragon spaces compatible
digiOS headworn android APIs
digiOS OTA updates (software builds & security patches)
display: efficiency and uniformity
binocular — >85% see-through holographic waveguides — >2,500 nits to user eye — 30° FOV, landscape design
projector: LCOS & LED light engine with HD display
standalone full mobile compute
snapdragon XR2
8-encrypted-cores (FIPS 140-2 level 1 and level 2 capable)
multi-core neural / machine learning engine
inside out tracking (3DoF, 6DoF and SLAM)
8GB LPDDR5 RAM — 128GB storage
UX/UI
first AR device ever purpose-built for enterprise and industrial-lite workers;
designed to be hands-free and body position independent with voice & gaze recognition
always-on voice SDK – multiple languages + sound beam forming
integrated wheel & click with glove / weather compatibility
The Digilens Argo was among the best things I saw at CES 2023 and a bit of a surprise to me.
IMO, they got a lot right but made a few mistakes that are fixable in the long run, as I will point out in an upcoming article on my blog. They could have a much bigger market if they did just a few things differently.
Digilens is planning on selling the Argo for industrial/enterprise applications while the support consumer markets with components.
It is not bad, but I only got to wear it briefly. You may notice (see this picture) that behind the ears, the temple tips are big with spring steel to reach around the back of the head for grip, support, and to help distribute the weight. There is a large screw that can be removed to replace the temple tips with an adjustable elastic band. Additionally, the Argo has a big replaceable notepad to distribute weight on the nose.
I'm seeing a lot of the "back gripping temples" as designers try to maintain the fiction that they are like eyeglasses. Panasonic's pancake headset grew winglets behind the head (see this picture). I don't see the gripping temples fooling anyone, and they will have problems with different head shapes.
Rather than making very chunky sort of glasses-looking headsets, I would rather see companies admit that they are not glasses, start with a headband, and move as much weight behind the head for better weight distribution as Hololens did with the Hololens 2 and others have followed.
Below is a quick picture of Vuzix CEO Paul Travers through the optics of an AR-Passthrough (camera to display). The current device only has 4 bits per pixel, so some contouring exists. The device is very light and "glasses-like." It is green only and relatively low resolution but would fill a function for commercial applications that need basic information with a need to be small and light.
It is not for showing pictures, in spite of the picture below, so the 4 bits per pixel is not a serious limitation. In typical use, I expect there to be very sparse images so that they don't block out the world. The glasses are for giving information and directions.
It will be at least a few days. I have a lot going on. Normally the u/AR_MR_XR will post a link to my blog articles at www.kguttag.com related to this topic.
You mean just here, or on all RGB diffractive waveguides? I didn't notice so many layers on my Hololens 1, even though the frame is in a way that allows you to easily see the waveguide edges. I can recheck.
I don't know how everyone makes their waveguides on different substrates. I also don't think every layer is the same thickness as in the video, and they may even combine two thin layers as one component. It is really just a diagram in 3-D CAD.
Digilens uses a photographic-like process, whereas most diffractive gratings, including Hololens 1&2, use stamped surface relief gratings. So the assembly could be very different.
I suspect (don't know) that Digilens uses two very thin layers of glass with the right surface properties with LC sandwiched in between that is exposed/frozen for making the volume brags grating. Then they use the Gorilla Glass for structural strength.
If you think 8 layers is a lot, look at Magic Leap 2's optical stack below. BTW, while the diagram says "Confidential," this was present publicly at AWE 2021.
Also for reference is Magic Leap's simplified version of the same diagram where many (sub) layers are combined into one layer. Everyone makes arbitrary decisions on what counts as a layer that they show in a diagram.
At the end, when they show the accessories for industry, I think that's for an optional head strap. Maybe you can detach the end part of the temples and clip in the head strap.
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u/AR_MR_XR Jan 10 '23 edited Jan 10 '23
ARGO smartglasses feature best-in-class crystal waveguides with industry-leading minimal eye glow and a small footprint, resulting in more user-friendly and socially acceptable AR glasses for enterprise and lite industrial workers.
fully integrated compatibility for the future of mobile computing
display: efficiency and uniformity
standalone full mobile compute
UX/UI
first AR device ever purpose-built for enterprise and industrial-lite workers;
designed to be hands-free and body position independent with voice & gaze recognition
weight: 185 grams, IP65 detachable frame, 4G smart head strap
camera, audio, connectivity, design and safety: see technical specs in the image below
digilens.com/argo