Google Cardboard-like Headset Brings AR to Everyone

If you thought Augmented Reality (AR) was cool when if first came out, was overshadowed by the resurgence of Virtual Reality (VR), then picked up steam again with the advent of Mixed-Reality (MR), then you’ll be interested in this new headset called Aryzon, dubbed ‘The Cardboard of Augmented Reality’.

The Netherlands-based ID team developed Aryzon as a fold-and-go AR headset much like the Google Cardboard VR headset. Instead of obstructing your view with a smartphone screen however, the Aryzon shifts the screen down and adds a viewfinder that allows you to see your surroundings and the 3-dimensional visuals projected onto it.

The AR headset works in combination with your smartphone using the sensor data to capture your surroundings, then recognize and track the AR marker (the provided radial marker or whatever you define), projecting the holographic image off the mirror and onto the viewfinder glass. It has a 35° x 20° view field of view, slightly larger than the current HoloLens view range of 30° x 17°.

Though more complicated and more expensive AR headsets exist. They’re not made of cardboard, but the approach Aryzon has taken really makes one wonder why it hasn’t been done before.

Of course, the applications for such a headset are wide open. While VR locks you into a world that needs to be created before anything is added, AR takes advantage of the existing environment and potentially using more than only markers to initiate the visuals.

Apparently, other people feel the same. The Aryzon Kickstarter project has already surpassed the $27,942 funding goal with 1,277 backers pledging $50,000 and over a month to go.

One headset runs €29 (~$32) with a duo set for €55 (~$61) and an estimated delivery date of September 21st, 2017. The Aryzon SDK is available to any developer who has pedged. To date, they have completed the final prototype prep and app proof of concept and are ready to go to manufacturing in July.

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