ATLANTA—A newly formed company, NewSight Reality, Inc. (NSR) announced that it has developed an Augmented Reality (AR) technology that it said addresses the shortcomings of current AR systems. NSR’s approach utilizes a proprietary transparent micro display (TMD) and optics integrated into a single proprietary optical module. The module can be located within millimeters of the wearer’s eyes, eliminating many of the inherent problems associated with other AR systems that are based on waveguides, holographic mirrors or birdbath optics.

NSR said it achieved theoretical proof of feasibility of its invention in late fall of 2018 using optical modeling and was able to achieve physical proof of feasibility in December. The company has filed multiple patent applications to protect the invention.


Ron Blum, OD, (l) and Phil Garfinkle.
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According to NSR, its display can be small enough to just cover wearer’s pupils or large enough to cover the surface of an eyeglass lens. The company also said that as the size of the TMD increases, there is no increase in its thickness. The thin transparent module being developed, that includes the TMD, can be embedded within the surface of an eyeglass lens, attached to the surface of an eyeglass lens or used in an attachable AR device for eyewear.

“It is well known that today’s AR systems have many shortcomings such as thickness, weight, transparency, energy requirements and light efficiency, just to name a few,” said Svetlana Samoilova, vice president of Augmented Reality for NSR. “The proprietary NSR approach being pursued has the potential to significantly improve upon these shortcomings.”

Optical industry veteran Ron Blum, OD, who is the founder and chairman of NSR, added, “We know in the optical industry that fashion trumps function. When we started evaluating AR eyewear it became readily apparent the current enabling technologies would not allow for AR eyewear to go mainstream. Therefore, we realized we had to invent from the ground up a totally new technology platform for successful AR systems in the near future and beyond.”

The AR industry is projected to grow to $70 billion by 2023, according to Marketwatch.

NSR also announced that it has appointed Phil Garfinkle to its board of directors. Garfinkle is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a strong background in digital photography.