Technical Illusions Head To Maker Faire 2014

CastAR, the augmented reality gaming glasses that project stereoscopic, holographic style images in front of the player, is heading to Maker Faire 2014 in a shiny new package. In a Kickstarter update for backer of the project’s enormously successful $1M+ campaign, the team have released some snaps of both the new glasses and demonstrated progress with the required retro-reflective sheets, needed for CastAR to work.

The new design is quite a departure from the hand-crafted prototypes we’ve seen before and got our hands on at CES this year. The driver / control board for the glasses seems to now run alongside the legs with a much sleeker and robust housing for the dual LED projectors and IR sensor that are mounted along the top of the unit. It’s a huge improvement, although it looks as if this new design precludes folding the legs of the glasses for easy transportation / storage.

It must feel a a little like coming home for Technical Illusions, the company started by founders Jerri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson to build the CastAR platform. Early pre-Kickstarter prototypes were debuted to enormous enthusiasm back in March 2013. Things sure move fast in the VR / AR world.

No further technical details were forthcoming in the update, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for updates from Maker Faire which runs 17th / 18th May.

You can keep up to date with Technical Illusions at their website here – and if you missed their original Kickstarter you can pre-order from their store here.

Seems the website is undergoing a redesign, there also a new store online with concept renders for the final product designs. We’ve included them below.