CastAR explained

castAR
Type:Startup company
Fate:Closed due to layoffs
Industry:Technology, Augmented reality, Virtual reality
Foundation:Woodinville, Washington, Washington[1] [2] [3]
Founder:Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson[4] [5]
Location City:Palo Alto, California[6]
Location Country:United States
Key People:Jeri Ellsworth, president and co-founder[7]
Rick Johnson, co-founder[8] [9]
Steve Parkis, CEO[10]
Products:castAR
Num Employees:70+[11]

castAR (formerly Technical Illusions) was a Palo Alto–based[12] technology startup company founded in March 2013[3] by Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson.[4] [5] Its first product was to be the castAR, a pair of augmented reality and virtual reality glasses.[13] castAR was a founding member of the nonprofit[14] Immersive Technology Alliance.[5]

History

castAR was founded by two former Valve employees;[15] the castAR glasses were born out of work that started inside Valve.[16] While still at Valve, their team had spent over a year working on the project.[15] They obtained legal ownership of their work after their departure.[8] [15]

In August 2015, Playground Global funded $15 million into castAR to build its product and create augmented-reality experiences.[12] In August 2016, Darrell Rodriguez, former President of LucasArts, joined as the new CEO.[17] In addition, Steve Parkis became President and COO, after leading teams at The Walt Disney Company and Zynga.[18] In September 2016, they opened castAR Salt Lake City, a new development studio formed from a team hired out of the former Avalanche Software, which worked on the Disney Infinity series.[19]

In October 2016, they announced the acquisition of Eat Sleep Play, the developer best known for Twisted Metal, also in Salt Lake City, UT.[20]

In December 2016, Parkis, who had been President and COO, was named CEO to replace Rodriguez.

In June 2017, it was reported by Polygon that CastAR was shutting down, laying off 70 employees.[21] A core group of administrators was expected to remain, to sell off the company's technology.

In September 2019 Jeri Ellsworth initiated a Kickstarter for a new device based on the same principles called Tilt Five. The company uses CastAR technology acquired from the former startup and is founded by CastAR alumni Jeri Ellsworth, Amy Herndon, Jamie Gennis, and Anthony Aquilio[22]

castAR

The castAR glasses combine elements of augmented reality and virtual reality.[23] [24] After winning Educator's and Editor's Choice ribbons at the 2013 Bay Area Maker Faire,[25] the castAR project was successfully crowdfunded via Kickstarter.[5] castAR surpassed its funding goal two days after the project went live,[26] and raised over $1 million on a $400,000 goal.[24] castAR creates transparent stereoscopic images unique to each user[23] by sending an image from tiny projectors on the glasses into the user's surroundings[16] using a technology that Technical Illusions called "Projected Reality".[23] The image bounces off a retro-reflective[9] surface back to the wearer's eyes.[16] [24] castAR can also be used for virtual reality purposes, using its VR clip-on.[23] [16] Before the time of the 2017 company shutdown all Kickstarter funds had been paid back to the original backers. Along with the repayment, a coupon for a free set of the production AR glasses was given to each backer. This happened at the time of the 2015 Playground Global investment.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Technical Illusions' Hologram Glasses. https://web.archive.org/web/20131128020625/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-27/innovation-technical-illusions-hologram-eyeglasses. dead. November 28, 2013. Leiber. Nick. 27 November 2013. Bloomberg Businessweek. 13 June 2014.
  2. Web site: Technical Illusions takes augmented reality system to Kickstarter. Lewis. Brandon. 16 October 2013. Embedded Computing Design. 13 June 2014.
  3. Web site: About Us. Technical Illusions. 13 June 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140614152230/http://technical-illusions.myshopify.com/pages/about-us. 14 June 2014.
  4. Web site: Hands-On with Technical Illusions' CastAR Augmented Reality Glasses. Joey. Fameli. 22 May 2013. Tested.com. 13 June 2014.
  5. Web site: castAR's vision of immersive gaming gets closer to final production. Nicole. Lee. 20 March 2014. Engadget. 13 June 2014.
  6. Web site: Augmented reality firm CastAR recruits former LucasArts chief Darrell Rodriguez as its CEO. Takahashi. Dean. 18 August 2016. VentureBeat. 18 August 2016.
  7. Web site: Immersive Technology Alliance formed by Oculus VR, EA, Avegant, CastAR others. Nunneley. Stephany. 13 March 2014. VG247. 13 June 2014.
  8. Web site: CastAR brings a new angle to Computer Assisted Reality. Limburg. Mark. 20 May 2013. VG247. 13 June 2014.
  9. Web site: Move over, Oculus. This startup's augmented reality will blow your mind.. Dean. Takahashi. 2 February 2014. VentureBeat. 13 June 2014.
  10. Web site: Augmented reality firm CastAR recruits former LucasArts chief Darrell Rodriguez as its CEO. Takahashi. Dean. 18 August 2016. VentureBeat. 18 August 2016.
  11. Web site: Augmented reality studio castAR picks up 'Disney Infinity' devs. Conditt. Jessica. 15 September 2016. Engadget. 15 September 2016.
  12. Web site: Android creator Andy Rubin invests $15M in CastAR to build augmented reality gaming glasses. Takahashi. Dean. 19 August 2015. VentureBeat. 19 August 2015.
  13. Web site: They're No Google Glass, But These Epson Specs Offer A New Look At Smart Eyewear. Lee. Adriana. 20 May 2014. ReadWrite. 13 June 2014.
  14. Web site: EA, Avegant, Technical Illusions, and Others Form Immersive Technology Alliance. Hsia. Kevin. 26 March 2014. Punchkick Interactive. 13 June 2014.
  15. Web site: How two Valve engineers walked away with the company's augmented reality glasses. Hollister. Sean. 18 May 2013. The Verge. 13 June 2014.
  16. Web site: The Past, Present, And Future Of VR And AR: The Pioneers Speak. Nelson. Fritz. Yam. Marcus. 30 April 2014. Tom's Hardware. 13 June 2014.
  17. Web site: Augmented reality firm CastAR recruits former LucasArts chief Darrell Rodriguez as its CEO. Takahashi. Dean. 18 August 2016. VentureBeat. 18 August 2016.
  18. Web site: Augmented reality firm CastAR recruits former LucasArts chief Darrell Rodriguez as its CEO. Takahashi. Dean. 18 August 2016. VentureBeat. 18 August 2016.
  19. Web site: Augmented reality studio castAR picks up 'Disney Infinity' devs. Conditt. Jessica. 15 September 2016. Engadget. 15 September 2016.
  20. Web site: CastAR hires entire Eat Sleep Play dev team. 2 November 2016 .
  21. News: Crecente. Brian. Former Valve initiative CastAR shuts down. 27 June 2017. Polygon. 26 June 2017.
  22. Web site: Jeri Ellsworth's unique AR glasses are back from the dead. Hollister. Sean. 2019-09-24. The Verge. en. 2019-09-25.
  23. Web site: How to get your own personal Holodeck, courtesy of gaming goddess Jeri Ellsworth. O'Dell. Jolie. 31 May 2014. VentureBeat. 13 June 2014.
  24. Web site: VR hardware moving along three separate paths. Korolov. Maria. 23 May 2014. Hypergrid Business. 13 June 2014.
  25. Web site: Technical Illusions debuts Cast AR augmented reality glasses. Hoopes. Heidi. 23 September 2013. Gizmag. 13 June 2014.
  26. Web site: castAR Funded With 29 Days To Go. Mahardy. Mike. 16 Oct 2013. IGN. 13 June 2014.

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