Description: Until Google Glass come along MicroOptical’s viewers were the world’s smallest, lightest augmented reality heads-up displays available. MicroOptical’s patented optical system gave the user the impression of a free-floating monitor. This unique optical system was what allowed the user to maintain a natural vision and awareness of the environment while still working on the screen. It was lightweight, comfortable, ergonomic and a true plug and play device that ould be attached to almost any pair of eyeglasses.
MicroOptical MV-1 Specs…
Headset: MicroOptical MV-1
Manufacturer: The Microoptical Corporation
Launch Price: Unknown
Release Date: October 1997
Headset Type: Retro – (Pre 2012)
Display: Light-emitting Laser Diode 320 x 240 pixel resolution
CPU: Unknown
Field of View(FOV): 25°
Refresh Rate: 40 Hz
Battery: Unknown
Weight: 96g (3.38 oz)
Tracking: 3 DoF Non-positional
HEADSET Review: As with the DigiLens DL40 it was just too expensive and the technology still is. We all know that the future will be full of wearable technology, but that time wasn’t when the MicroOptical MV-1 was released. Sadly the company did not survive the 2008 recession, and in 2010 it was dissolved. Its assets, including patents, were sold to Foxconn which then formed subsidiary View Link Technology in Singapore, with the mission to establish a new line of wearable near-eye systems for industrial, medical, and consumer use. In August 2012, Mark Spitzer, formerly a principal scientist at Kopin Corporation and the founder and CEO of MicroOptical/MyVu, was hired by Google as a Director of Operations at Google X. In April 2013, Google acquired several of MicroOptical/MyVu patents from Foxconn, who is in contract with Google to manufacture the Google Glass in Santa Clara, California.
