How is Light Blue Optics about to change your life?
Holographic Laser Projection – the pride of Britain.
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Light Blue Optics (LBO) is a company based in Cambridge, UK, founded by four post-graduate engineering students from the city’s world-famous university – Dr Edward Buckley, Dr Peter Mash, Dr Nic Lawrence, Dr Adrian Cable. They represent Britain’s young bright minds at its best, the cream in your cup of tea, the Cherry in your pudding, the ale in your pie, the rose on a rugby shirt … British pride.
The four gentlemen patented Holographic Laser Projection (HLP), a technique which had been considered theoretically possible for some forty years. They overcame issues such as power efficiency by devising holographic algorithms which would calculate multiple holograms for a rough version of the image. When shown in quick succession, the eye’s temporal bandwidth averages out the noise and perceives a single clearly defined image, enabling high-quality, efficient video in real time.
Here’s a quick video that explains how HLP works:
(download quicktime if you don’t have it, double-click on the frame to play the video]):
The company was founded in 2004 and managed to withdraw enough bank notes from investors to fund research and to come up in January 2010 with Light Touch – their first product, launched at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. But do not expect to buy one for Christmas, LBO does not intend to sell it to end users but instead their model is to act as a platform provider for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) throughout various industries and existing channels. One of their original partners is The Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services in the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology.
Light Touch turns any surface into a touchscreen. It comes in the shape of a small black box (smaller than a PS3) which is a self-contained computer manufactured by Foxconn (the iPhone’s manufacturer), it holds a projector, external speakers, 2GB internal memory and hides a Samsung media processor – the same family of processors you would find in smartphones. Software wise, it runs Windows 6 with Adobe Flash Lite making it easy for developers who like to code applications on Microsoft .Net or Flash. The device is also Wifi-enabled and has a media card slot.
Here is a quick Light Touch demo from CES:
Now you can imagine how this innovation can change user experience across a wide range of typical services that we take for granted so far. Think about Light Touch embedded in your restaurant table and how it could easily replace your good-old menu, a few taps-on-the-table away you know the Chef’s recipe and can order directly thus shortening waiting time. Think about in-flight entertainment, security access controls, meeting room facilities … use cases are endless!
The idea here is not to replace all computer screens or your home entertainment equipment but to create a new interactive support that will enhance users’ relationship with products or services. LBO has already launched a second product called Light Speed which looks into improving road safety. Light Speed projects information such as speed, road signs and GPS information off the end of your car’s bonnet – as if it was floating 2.5 meters away from the driver’s eyes. This HLP solution could even be embedded in rear-view or wing mirrors to prevent accidents. Another automotive solution based on HLP comes in the shape of the Mini Centre Globe which has been introduced during the Salon de l’Automobile in Paris, two years ago.
LBO is deemed to be successful because a) its innovation significantly improves user experience, b) it is almost infinitely scalable, c) it helps its partners to add value to their core products and achieve cost efficiency, and d) it has the capability to disrupt. It can have the same impact on consumers’ lives than Nike’s Air Max trainers launched in 1987, Motorola RZR V3 launched in 2004 or Apple’s iPhone launched in 2007. One thing that will immediately define HLP near-term applications is the fact that developers can use it on curved surfaces. For longer term ideas, think about how holographic technologies could render 3D graphics.
At the moment, Light Blue Optics – the holographic pride of Britain – is overwhelmed with the hype it created. As per Adrian Cable – CTO and Founder:
Today our challenge is to identify opportunities to turn down [...] and find those that will enable us to ramp up high volumes rapidly.