OptoFidelity Articles

OptoFidelity’s BUDDY is a leading comprehensive measurement system for head-mounted displays (HMDs) in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) applications. Now with 6DOF (six degrees of freedom), BUDDY accurately mimics human movement – allowing for automated testing of headset performance including motion-to-photon latency, content stability, pose-drifting and world-locking. As the AR/VR market heats up, so does the competitive landscape. An early edge in the development process can mean all the difference.

AR and VR are quickly becoming critical toolsets in the medical field. One of the earliest uses was in training surgeons. Medical professionals use AR to create a three-dimensional model of the patient's body that they could view from different angles, which allows surgeons to practice surgeries before performing them on an actual patient. From training to surgical procedures, AR and VR are used to improve medical treatments' quality and accuracy. Using AR/VR in medical applications has expanded beyond training purposes. Some current trends include:

With the ramp-up of head mounted display (HMD) production, there’s an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage through manufacturing efficiencies. Waiting to solve these problems in the production stage no longer serves you. We suggest moving testing into the earliest stages of product design. Integrating performance test engineering into your mass production process can help discover bottlenecks and challenges before and during production.

What are the implications of implementing earlier testing, like labor requirements, equipment, and the additional time to market? Automated optical metrology testing systems can help to alleviate these barriers and solve performance issues before they even appear. We have identified a few steps that you can take to make sure you can improve productivity and establish world-leading quality and performance in your optical technology.

Steps to improve and maximize your HMD production process:

1. Gain end-to-end system performance visibility with the shift-left approach
2. Get performance improvement recommendations based on comprehensive statistical analysis
3. Apply technology-agnostic testing strategies suitable for any device, form factor, or use case

Technology drives our economy, and its leaders can shape its impact on climate change. The world has finite resources, so adopting and promoting a circular economy will advance the reuse of resources to benefit businesses, consumers, and the environment. What is a circular economy, exactly? Today’s linear economy takes finite resources from the Earth, which later become waste. A circular economy aims to develop products that can be reused over again, either as the same product, or using the parts for a new byproduct. The concept of a circular economy is changing our approach to product design, production, and brand promise, while in many cases, opening opportunity for new lines of revenue and margin improvement.

With the development of the metaverse moving at an accelerating pace, the expansion of AR, VR, and MR, is inevitable. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst in creating a virtual world where we can experience many of the same social events and interactions that we enjoy in the real world. Company investments are shifting – and the performance of head-mounted displays (HMDs) and other smart device technology will progress with it. Recent statistics show the forecast of the market and are drivers behind the increased investments in AR/VR/MR technologies.