3 Feb 2023
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: Designing Headsets that People Will Actually Wear
AWE USA 2022
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the most engaging content from AWE’s catalog of conference sessions. With an extensive library from AWE USA 2022, there's still plenty to dive into.
This week, we examine the AR glasses design. It's harder than it looks given that you have to balance a functioning computing device on one's face. Magic Leap's Danny Carson walks us through challenges and considerations.
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library on awe.live and AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Danny Carson: Senior Director, Magic Leap
– There's often a misperception in the broader tech world that AR will "just work."
– But to get to that functionality, there are countless technological challenges.
– We're talking everything from realistic interactions to parallax and occlusion.
– Beyond software and UX challenges, there are also ample hardware challenges.
– There are several design tradeoffs between graphical intensity and wearability.
– You can't have both (yet), so AR devices range from Hololens to North Focals.
– When looking at the "heavy AR" end of the spectrum, more challenges persist.
– For example, rich graphical interfaces necessitate lots of heat and bulk.
– That has to be reconciled with the need for something that's comfortable.
– And the goal is often for devices that are wearable for long periods of time.
– Adding additional challenges, a global population has widely varied anatomy.
– This brings in the science of human anthropometry, an unsung discipline for AR.
– It includes everything from head shape to nose positioning and pupillary distance.
– And it requires deep research into ethnic differences in order to achieve accessibility.
– Magic Leap hits these targets through the practice of fit mapping and fit testing.
For more color on Magic Leap's research and design processes, check out the full session below.
Want more XR insights and multimedia? ARtillery Intelligence offers an indexed and searchable library of XR intelligence known as ARtillery Pro. See more here.
Speakers
Danny Carson: Senior Director, Magic Leap
– There's often a misperception in the broader tech world that AR will "just work."
– But to get to that functionality, there are countless technological challenges.
– We're talking everything from realistic interactions to parallax and occlusion.
– Beyond software and UX challenges, there are also ample hardware challenges.
– There are several design tradeoffs between graphical intensity and wearability.
– You can't have both (yet), so AR devices range from Hololens to North Focals.
– When looking at the "heavy AR" end of the spectrum, more challenges persist.
– For example, rich graphical interfaces necessitate lots of heat and bulk.
– That has to be reconciled with the need for something that's comfortable.
– And the goal is often for devices that are wearable for long periods of time.
– Adding additional challenges, a global population has widely varied anatomy.
– This brings in the science of human anthropometry, an unsung discipline for AR.
– It includes everything from head shape to nose positioning and pupillary distance.
– And it requires deep research into ethnic differences in order to achieve accessibility.
– Magic Leap hits these targets through the practice of fit mapping and fit testing.
For more color on Magic Leap's research and design processes, check out the full session below.
Want more XR insights and multimedia? ARtillery Intelligence offers an indexed and searchable library of XR intelligence known as ARtillery Pro. See more here. 
