Category: ObEN

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ObEN Raises Funding to Create AI Celebrity Avatars for AR

ObEN is a company primarily focussed on the creation of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI). With AI and machine learning poised to change the landscape for videogames and computing in general, ObEN has announced that it has secured funding to build a celebrity AI platform in augmented reality (AR).

The $5 Million (USD) in funding that ObEN have acquired was led by Tencent Holdings, a company already known for promoting and funding virtual reality (VR) and AR companies and projects.

ObEN is planning to use the money raised to create, store and distribute a Personal AI, something that looks, acts and sounds just like it’s real-life counterpart. ObEN is using a combination of speech, computer vision, and natural language processing to create a realistic virtual voice, 3D avatar image and even personality. ObEN is planning to make this technology available to tech-savvy celebrities so they can interact with fans and enter new markets without needing to travel or divide their time.

“As technology rapidly evolves and moves towards applications using AI, we are excited by ObEN and their AI solution which is poised to enrich user experiences across different online platforms,” said Levin Yao, Executive Director of Tencent Investment. “ObEN’s vision of creating a new form of entertainment and content driven by celebrity AI is inspiring.”

“We are thrilled with Tencent’s strategic investment which serves as validation from one of the world’s premier social and gaming platforms,” said Nikhil Jain, cofounder and CEO of ObEN, Inc. “Fans may never have a personal experience with their favorite celebrity, but ObEN’s Personal AI for celebrities aims to change that. Imagine being able to perform a virtual duet with your favorite artist, have your beloved movie star become the face and voice of your virtual assistant, or engage in a deep conversation with your most admired influencer. The possibilities are infinite.”

ObEN are expecting the new AR platform to launch later this year.

VRFocus will bring you further news on ObEN’s AR platform as it becomes available.

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Vive X Teams Reveal Innovation Breakthroughs Toward Next-Gen VR Tech

Last year HTC formed the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) alongside some of the biggest investors in the VR industry. This alliance offered a total of $10bn USD to VR content creators in conjunction with the Vive X accelerator program. The VRVCA has just held its fourth closed-door members meeting in San Francisco, with 10 teams from 5 different regions showcasing their achievements.

These startups included 7invensun, ObEN and TPCast, each making progress with interactive eye tracking, social connection, and wireless connectivity.

aGlass DK II

7invensun, a Vive X batch II team based in Beijing, has created real-time eye tracking for HTC Vive systems in the form of an upgrade kit known as aGlass. The aGlass DK II will start limited pre-order sales next month priced at RMB 1,500 (approx. $219 USD. Each set of aGlass DK II’s comes supplied with a pair of 200°, 400° and 600° myopic lenses and supports customised lenses.

“It’s a great honour for us to attend VRVCA this year and we’re super excited about the benefits aGlass can bring to lower hardware requirements and thus enable broader access to high quality VR. Thanks to Vive X, we are able to work and share resources with a variety of Vive X teams, and jointly create more VR/AR eye-tracking solutions in game interaction, financial payment, travel guide, and so on. Our vision is to empower a new and cool way of human-computer interaction through eye tracking.” said Thomas Huang, Founder and CEO of 7invensun in a statement.

While ObEN has built artificial intelligence (AI) technology that integrates with China’s WeChat, a popular social platform allowing all HTC Vive users and WeChat’s 889 million mobile users to interact with each other.

“China is a world leader in both mobile internet and VR adoption. We are thrilled to join forces with Tencent and HTC Vive to tackle the challenge of improving Social VR experiences using ObEN’s AI technology,” said Nikhil Jain, cofounder and CEO, ObEN. “Today’s showcase not only enables shared experiences between users of China’s top social and VR platform but is also an early demonstration of how ObEN’s Personal AI can drive and create AI generated content.”

TPCast on the other hand needs little introduction. The company developed a wireless solution last year which has seen widespread media coverage. At the showcase TPCast announced its Business Edition tether-less upgrade kit, a multi-user solution that allows up to six users to interact in one physical space. The product is due to launch later this year.

TPCast_picture[1]

“We believe this industry milestone will really change the game completely for multiuser VR and ultimately unleash the tether-less VR world!” said Michael Liu, CEO of TPCAST. “We sincerely appreciate VRVCA for giving us this opportunity to show our latest tether-less VR product to the world. Also we would like to express our gratitude to HTC Vive for being always supportive to us.”

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Vive X and VRVCA, reporting back with the latest technological updates.

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Vive X Member ObEN Raises $7.7 Million To Bring Realistic Avatars To VR

Vive X Member ObEN Raises $7.7 Million To Bring Realistic Avatars To VR

HTC announced the first class of 33 companies to join its Vive X accelerator back in July, but has since remained tight-lipped about what those startups have been up to.

This week, we’ve heard the first update from one of those companies, ObEN. The Pasadena-based group raised $7.7 million in a Series A round of funding to accelerate its work creating realistic and simple avatars for VR and AR. Investors include CrestValue Capital, Cybernaut Westlake Partners, and Leaguer Venture Investment.

ObEN is currently working on a means of constructing accurate avatars of a human with voice replication based on just one photo of them from a smartphone and a small audio sample. Using proprietary AI technology, the company aims to let you bring these avatars into a variety of VR and AR experiences. A press release makes specific mention of how it surpasses avatars that “depend upon cartoon-like characteristics,” perhaps taking a shot at the avatars seen in Facebook’s social VR experience shown on-stage at Oculus Connect 3 last month.

The video below shows an example of a 3D model created from such an image.

The company expects to launch its tech in Q1 2017. It’s going to be interesting to see how it is implemented into other experiences, especially with Oculus soon launching its own Avatars system, which is again more cartoonish than what ObEN is trying to achieve. The company’s Michael Abrash doesn’t think perfect virtual humans will be here for many years to come, though.

Interestingly, none of the Series A investors mentioned are listed as members of HTC’s VR Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA), the group of investors that gather once every two months to review pitches from startup VR companies, including those from Vive X. Though unconfirmed, it was thought that ObEN might have been involved in the group’s first meeting back in September. We’ve reached out to HTC to clarify if the VRVCA had any involvement in this funding round.

As part of Vive X, however, ObEN will have had access to mentorship and work space, though it’s currently based in technology incubator, Idealab. The company has a range of openings across computer vision and speech recognition on its official website.