ThirdEye is a headset manufacturer that creates glasses for the industrial segment. Its X2 MR glasses are proving very effective in many industrial fields, but its brand is still not very famous in the XR communities, so I decided to have a talk with Nick Cherukuri, the CEO of ThirdEye, to let you all discover more about it. We talked about ThirdEye glasses, their features, their future projections, and their possible B2B applications. Here you are what he has told me:
Hello Nick, can you introduce yourself for my readers?
I’m Nick Cherukuri. I’ve always been passionate about extended reality, and I started pursuing it full-time in college. While in school at the University of Pennsylvania, I co-founded the Penn Virtual & Augmented Reality Club, which quickly grew to several hundred members. After graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2016, I founded ThirdEye – a leader in mixed reality for the enterprise. Here, my team and I created a light pair of mixed reality glasses on the market at just 300 grams – the X2 MR Glasses, providing an all-in-one hardware and software solution for all industries, including field services, healthcare, and automotive. The hands-free solution for workers maximizes productivity, improves key performance indicators, and betters worker safety.
Let’s talk about the ThirdEye X2 Glasses… what are they?
At 300 grams, ThirdEye’s X2 MR Glasses are the lightest mixed reality glasses on the market and are suited for extensive wear in all conditions. This has proved to be extremely beneficial in field services, healthcare, and the military as users can wear them in the roughest of conditions. For example, the firefighters at Marcus Hook Fire Department, which protects the borough of Marcus Hook near Philadelphia, use the X2 MR Glasses with an attachable FLIR (forward-looking infrared) thermal sensor to stay safe, remain hands-free, and keep focused during their mission-critical tasks.
What are their specifications?
The X2 MR Glasses weigh 310 grams and run on Android 9.0, including 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The smart glasses have 42 degrees field of view (diagonal) and 1280×720 HD screen resolution. There is a 13MP 4-axis optical image stabilization RGB camera. The X2 MR Glasses include a thermal sensor, ambient light sensor, and 9DoF (3-axis accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope) standard Android IMU. The full list of specs can be found here.
The glasses don’t feature controllers, why have you taken this decision?
As roughly 80% of the global workforce needs to use their hands at work, we wanted our users to be hands-free. With this in mind, our team went with a hands-free approach, utilizing gestures, audio, and head motion commands that satisfy the majority of enterprise use cases.
You make one of the few glasses that are usable outdoor… how have you obtained this? And why was it important for you?
When developing the X2 MR Glasses, we paid careful consideration to what was needed for outdoor use as the US Military and industrial companies use our solution. Our optics are 500 nits brightness, which is one of the highest brightness in the market allowing for outdoor use. We also developed an attachment to convert the X2 MR Glasses into sunglasses, allowing them to be used outdoors.
Our smart glasses are also ANSI Z87.1 certified, meaning they can be connected to hard hats and be drop tested. Our manufacturer drop-tested them about 5,000 times to ensure they met these certifications.
What certifications do you have? And why are they important?
The following are our list of certifications:
- PPE COMPATIBLE Passes basic impact protection requirements of ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 (Class E, Type 1), and CSA Z94.3 (Class E, Type 1) and EN 166. Connector available for 4 & 6 point hardhats and ballcaps. IP40 rated. Shockproof – resistant to 2 M drops on concrete from any angle. UL 62368-1. IEC 62133, UL 1642, UL 2054, UN38.3 Battery safety.
- Temperature proof (can be stored in -20C to 60C.) Sweatproof tested in chamber four hours 37C no printed parts or logo problems. 5000 cycle hinge test for reliability. IEC/EN 60950-1 Electrical Safety. FCC Part 15 Class B EMC. HIPPA certified. EU: IEC 62368-1 ed2. Clean room certified.
These certifications are important as enterprise use has much higher standards needed than commercial use. For example, being PPE compatible is a requirement for all usage in construction. Many healthcare use cases require the glasses to be sweatproof. FCC and CE requirements are needed for selling in America or Europe.
In what fields are your glasses used? What are some famous customers that you have?
Our X2 MR Glasses are used in a variety of fields, including healthcare, field services, automotive, security, construction, education, retail, engineering, logistics, aerospace, and more. Some of our customers include the U.S. Air Force, Atheer, AT&T FirstNet, and AVATAR Partners.
What do customers love about your glasses? What are your points of strength?
We have several main advantages for our X2 MR Glasses. One is that we develop both hardware and software solutions so customers have an end-to-end product that will meet all of their needs out of the box. Our X2 MR Glasses also run on Android 9.0, so it is easy to develop and port apps onto the glasses, unlike other closed operating systems like Windows or Linux OS. We provide free, on-site technical support so new users are comfortable with using this technology. Our X2 MR Glasses are also hand-free, untethered, and are ruggedized for enterprise use.
In what should you still improve, instead?
Like with any new technology, the goal is to make the smart glasses lighter while simultaneously adding new features, such as a wider field of view, 5G, more battery life, and more. Our R&D team is hard at work in developing our next versions of the smart glasses – both for commercial and consumer use.
You have recently announced that your glasses are now available for use on AT&T FirstNet. What does it mean and why is it so important?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our team spent a lot of time thinking about how we could use our technology to aid first responders. After speaking with first responders to hear what would be most beneficial to them, we created a telehealth AR application – “RespondEye” – that allows doctors to see what’s taking place from a first responders’ point of view. RespondEye is HIPAA certified, so it is also approved for medical use. Using this application, ambulances can return to use much faster while keeping first responders safer. We are very proud of the work we have done for first responders, and this remains one of our main focuses as we scale RespondEye nationwide and worldwide.
Are you also interested in the consumer market?
While the consumer market may not be ready for smart glasses, it is the biggest market worldwide. More and more, we are seeing apps like Pokémon Go utilize AR core and AR kit on smartphones, indicating that AR is becoming of interest. For consumer smart glasses to succeed, they need to look stylish and connect to phones for both their battery and processing.
What features are your working on for your next-gen glasses?
For our next-generation enterprise smart glasses, we are adding more extensive industrial certifications, such as Intrinsic Safe Zone 1 explosion proof as well as IP66 dustproof and waterproof anti-static and anti-corrosion. IP66 designs are based on the US military MIL-STD 810G standard so they can be used in more extreme situations.
On the consumer side, we are working with our manufacturer and telecom partners to allow them to connect with 5G phones.
How much do ThirdEye X2 Glasses cost? And how can people buy it?
The X2 MR Glasses cost about $2.4K, and we offer bulk discounts as well as a leasing program. People can buy the X2 MR Glasses directly from our website or a sales representative can hop on a call to help customize a solution that meets individual needs.
Three months ago, you launched a funding program for software startups. How is the program going? And what companies are you still looking for?
We are currently in discussions with several companies and are looking to see which ISV software companies make the most sense for this program in terms of timing and partnership style. This will be a continuous process as we evaluate more companies.
How do you envision the future of industrial AR/MR?
AR will become more pervasive throughout industrial AR/MR as the industrial certifications increase, the 3D twinning applications become more robust, and lower latency for high-end applications is achieved. This will allow workers to easily overlay 3D models onto the real world.
If you had to share a lesson you learned with the people of the XR communities, what would it be?
This is an ever-evolving field. Don’t give up and keep listening to customer feedback as the hardware and software evolve and get more sophisticated. The community is constantly growing and getting stronger, which is needed to help make AR pervasive across all enterprises and consumers someday.
Anything else to add to this interview?
We don’t envision one company dominating AR, especially in the enterprise space as there are so many different use cases that require specialized smart glasses and software solutions. This is why we encourage everyone to keep learning and applying AR to more use cases as it is essentially limitless in its real-world reach.
Thanks Nick for your time, it has been amazing speaking with you!
(Header image by ThirdEye)