stan larroque – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 7, 2022

Lynx R1’s Summer Launch is a “Moving Target” Due to Component Sourcing

There are a bunch of virtual reality (VR) headsets due for release later this year, with the Lynx R1 expected to arrive first for early backers. When that’ll happen though remains fluid, with Lynx founder Stan Larroque recently confirming the launch is a “moving target” due to external factors. On the plus side, he revealed new details regarding the headsets’ controllers.

Larroque holds a live, unscripted, update/Q&A stream on YouTube each month where he’s open and honest about the headsets’ progress and issues the team is currently facing. It makes for a far different approach than most other VR hardware manufacturers but also highlights the problems a smaller startup can face. That includes having to adjust a launch window which has been stencilled in for June/July.

When asked about the shipping date during the Q&A portion, he said: “It’s a moving target. As I told you, sometime during the summer. I know that’s not a good answer but that’s all I can tell you. We still need answers for some of the components. We’ve secured all of the components on the main board which was a pain but we still have some things to figure between Taiwan and China; which is a complicated matter.”

So for the time being, backers will still need to be patient for one of the most interesting mixed reality (MR) headsets coming to market.

As for the controller news, Larroque said he had “very good news”. In collaboration with Finch, the Lynx R1 will get optically tracked controllers much like the Meta Quest, with a ring the headset can see. This will mean the Lynx R1 will be able to support a far wider array of VR games on platforms like Steam. Out the box, the headset will still be focused on hand tracking as the primary input method as there’s no release timing or pricing for the controller at the moment.

Lastly, there’s been a bit of confusion around the previously announced SideQuest integration. In the stream Larroque mentions a cancelled contract without mentioning specifics but he followed this up with a statement via Twitter, clarifying that work was still ongoing.

Watch the full Lynx update for May below, and when further details arise, gmw3 will let you know.

May 4, 2022

Work Already Underway on Lynx-R1 Successor

One of the most exciting mixed reality (MR) headsets coming to market in 2022 is the Lynx-R1, first revealed by creator Stan Larroque a couple of years ago. Like much of the tech sector chip shortages have led to delays with the launch now expected this summer. Even with that still to come the team has already begun work on the next generation of Lynx headset.

Hardware takes years to develop and quite often the big tech companies like Meta plan several iterations years in advance. For a small startup like Lynx which held a successful Kickstarter last year to gauge customer interest and production numbers, it’s not as easy, especially considering its first product hasn’t even arrived yet. But the features of the Lynx-R1 had to be locked in a while ago, which then naturally leads to the possibilities of what can be achieved next.

Gmw3 caught up with Larroque during the recent Virtuality 2022 event in Paris, France, where he spoke frankly about the issues the team has faced whilst also looking at where they were headed, confirming a second version is in development. “So the complexity of this product is, you know, what I say every time is all the headsets on the market, including Lynx, they are compromises, they are a product of a compromise. And I’m happy with the compromises we make with this version while we’re working already on version two, to make things better, of course, on all the metrics you can imagine for headsets,” Larroque explained.

“We are working on that I can share that we’re working on it,” he continues. “Because when you make hardware, you put on the paper, something that goes out on the market, maybe two years, two years and a half to do. So, Lynx, Lynx-R2, yeah, we’re working on that.”

As the focus is on the Lynx-R1 at the moment Larroque didn’t go into any specifics but he did say further details would be shared before the end of the year.

And this is because Lynx wants to build a solid ecosystem combining its hardware with software currently being built worldwide. “We have a lot of people that are building applications, they want to make sure that we are going to be around, we are going to have a v1, a v2 that the software will be compatible, you know, we have to reassure people and not just be a one time use. You know, we had to show that we know what we’re doing. We know where we’re going.”

Currently, the Lynx-R1 is expected to begin shipping to Kickstarter backers and those who pre-ordered the headset in June/July. The standard retail edition is priced at $599 USD while the Enterprise Edition jumps up to $1,099. For continued updates, keep reading gmw3.

December 23, 2021

Lynx-R1 To Integrate SideQuest in 2022

French startup Lynx has had a strong 2021 having redesigned its mixed reality (MR) headset earlier in the year followed by a successful Kickstarter that raised just over $800,000 USD. Founder Stan Larroque holds fairly regular live updates on the progress of Lynx-R1, yesterday revealing several new details that included the upcoming integration of SideQuest in 2022.

If you’ve not heard of the platform, SideQuest was originally set up to help Oculus Quest owners sideload early access projects by indie virtual reality (VR) developers, growing a community away from the official Oculus Store which was difficult for developers to get approved on. The news that SideQuest will be available for Lynx-R1 is not only exciting but highly important where content access is concerned. The Lynx headset already supports SteamVR but having access to SideQuest opens up another massive library of titles, plus it gives developers another platform they can sell their games on.

Larroque noted that SideQuest support should be available in April 2022, the same month that the Lynx-R1 should be shipping to Kickstarter backers.

While that was the main news, he also mentioned a couple of other details. Lynx-R1 focuses on hand tracking as its main input method but Larroque has confirmed that the Valve Index controllers will work. You’ll need to have separate SteamVR base stations, of course, for tracking purposes but at least the option is available ensuring compatibility with Steam content.

For developers, Lynx plans on making its software development kit (SDK), which supports OpenXR, publicly available at some point in January 2022. Unity developers – no mention of Unreal Engine – will then be able to use the SDK to test if their app works with the Lynx-R1 and make any adjustments if necessary.

The Lynx-R1 is a fully all-in-one (AIO) MR headset featuring a 2.1″ octagonal LCD panel, 1600 x 1600 per eye resolution at 90Hz with a 90° FOV, all powered by a Qualcomm XR2 chipset, 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage – that’s expandable via an SD card slot. While the Kickstarter had a limited-time Early Bird discount, the standard price for the Lynx-R1 is $599 USD.

February 6, 2020

LYNX Founder Details Headset’s Unique Optics, Pre-orders Available Now

Startup LYNX revealed the R-1 earlier this week, a standalone MR headset with a unique optical design. Speaking at a conference on Monday, the company’s founder shared more about the headset and it hopes to achieve with its novel optical approach.

For more specs and details on the Lynx R-1, see our reveal coverage

On stage at the SPIE Photonics West conference in San Francisco this week, Lynx founder Stan Larroque presented the R-1 headset. Designed with pass-through AR in mind, the standalone mixed reality headset is being built on the Snapdragon XR2 chip.

Larroque said that the headset is aimed primarily at enterprise applications and is expected to ship this summer, priced at $1,500. Pre-orders are available now on the company’s website with a $150 down-payment.

One of the R-1’s most unique attributes is its novel lenses which the company describes as a “4-fold catadioptric freeform prism.” The lenses are much more complex than the simple lenses seen in the majority of VR headsets available today. Surely they’re bulkier and may be more difficult to manufacture, but the benefits, Larroque said, are “not only about the optical performance we get, it’s also about the [headset] form-factor and the fact that we can hide things right at the center.”

What might you want to hide in the center of the lens? An eye-tracking camera, said Larroque. While most headsets with eye-tracking place cameras at extreme angles to the eye (to avoid the camera being visible to the user) Larroque said that the R-1’s optics allows an ideal central placement for the headset’s eye-tracking camera, potentially allowing for greater precision and accuracy.

The “light folding” optics are designed to wrap the image from the display around the eye-tracking camera to make it invisible. Larroque said that the image on the display is divided into four quarters and then reassembled into a single image by the optics. He showed the headset’s ‘distortion map’ which defines how the initial image is pre-warped to counteract distortions in shape and color introduced by the lens. While pretty much all headsets use pre-warping, the R-1’s distortion map is pretty complex by comparison.

The optics also appear to have a very compact focal length, allowing the displays the be flush with the lenses; other things being equal, this would make the headset more compact than those with more simple lenses which need to be a certain distance from the display in order to correctly focus the image into the user’s eye.

Larroque said that the R-1 uses a 90Hz, 1,600 × 1,600 LCD display for each eye, and that the lens overlaps portions of the image which allows for “supersampling” in those regions. From the brief description, we take this to mean that overlapping pixels in those regions will fill in some of the screen door effect (the unlit spaces between pixels), though we’ve reached out to Lynx for clarity.

While there’s purported benefits to this lens approach, the R-1 headset only achieves a 90 degree horizontal field of view, and it’s hard to imagine that some of the lens seams won’t be visible, though we haven’t had a chance to look through the headset in person just yet.

Larroque reiterated that the Lynx R-1 headset is aimed mostly at B2B applications and some ‘exploitative’ B2C use-cases, though the company will sell the headset to individuals as well.

“I’m very excited for all the hobbyists and some developers and the cool ideas they will explore with this device,” he said. “We are already partnering with a big game company and you will see amazing stuff coming out this Summer.”

That said, there’s still lingering questions about the software stack that Lynx R-1 will use and what tools will be available to developers. While we can expect and Android foundation and an SDK, it isn’t clear how much the company will layer on top, or if it plans to launch its own software distribution ecosystem for the headset. We’ve reached out to the company for more details.

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