AR ISN’T GOING TO CRUSH the world of VR anytime soon if ever, thanks to Varjo’s VR-1 headset.
But it turns out this virtual reality device began as a “mixed reality” (MR) project when the Finnish company got started a few years ago. What transpired in the shift with Varjo is an interesting tale in the value of challenging assumptions and careful listening to early beta partners.
“We founded the company with the principle that we wanted to do mixed reality,” said Varjo Chief Product Officer Urho Konttori. But things took a different course once they started touring around to different companies in 2017. “We would show them our human-eye resolution VR but also the mixed reality too, and it was pretty interesting to see their reactions. Most companies said, ‘whoa, that’s super cool what you are doing with the mixed reality, but we don’t know quite what to do with it.’ ”
Varjo VR-1 virtual reality headset with human-eye resolution Bionic Display. The device from Finland is now available worldwide.
It turns out that those early potential customers saw massive value in a VR device that operated at “human-eye” resolution, something that sets the VR-1 apart from its competitors in the market.
The VR-1 — History and Development
Architosh first wrote about the Varjo VR-1 back in 2017 when the company came out of stealth mode. While the company seems young, its founders were already involved in both shipping and lab-only technologies while at Nokia both before and after Microsoft’s acquisition of the famed mobile phone maker. Some of these technologies going back to Nokia were the roots behind Microsoft’s eventual Hololens mixed-reality product.
“Once Microsoft discontinued operations in Finland, those founders who had Microsoft positions were offered positions on the West coast, but we decided to stay here,” said Konttori. Varjo’s founders (there are four) all had backgrounds involving some combinations of Nokia, Intel, Microsoft or Nvidia. Encouraged by the several local Scandinavian tech companies, including Umbra 3D, they met up with investors and presented their initial vision and technology for the company. The day they showed their prototype technology was the day they walked away with one million dollars in seed funding. “After just 15 minutes of discussing with them they backed us,” said Konttori.
Once Microsoft discontinued operations in Finland, those founders who had Microsoft positions were offered positions on the West coast, but we decided to stay here.
After going to work on a mixed reality device the company committed to focus on a device that reached “human-eye” resolution. Aided by their experience at Nokia working with high-megapixel cameras and screens handling the input side turned out to be not that difficult. But what about output? What about the displays?
At that time the displays inside the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were 50x lower resolution than the human eye. “We had been discussing matters with most of the display manufacturers and knew their road maps,” added Konttori. “Based on that we concluded it was going to take ten years until we would have human-eye resolution displays.” The early company challenged their assumptions and asked if they could shortcut that timeframe.
Varjo VR-1 (right) versus the HTV Vive (left). With “human-eye” resolution VR-1 provides transformative workflow change across numerous industries, importantly aerospace simulation and training.
“That’s how we ended up inventing the Bionic Display concept,” said Konttori. They worked for roughly one year on the technology, doing a lot of patents to protect their inventions and then in the summer of 2017 they completed the product development. The Varjo Bionic Display technology is unique in the world of VR headsets. It features a combination of two types of display technology working in unison together via innovative software engineering. One display is a 1920×1080 low-persistence micro-OLED and the other display a 1440×1600 low-persistence AMOLED.
Varjo VR-1 (right) versus the HTC Vive as used in an architectural workflow setting.
Uniquely, the Bionic Display also features an angled glass plate that works as an optical combiner that merges the two displays into a single image. One display, the micro-OLED display is providing the retina level (human-eye) resolution. “The software is blending both the normal and human-eye displays all through the display area, not just at the edges of the display,” said Konttori. Because both displays are fundamentally different technology, they also have small differences in color rendering in addition to their resolutions.
“As a designer, you care about two things,” adds Konttori, “you need to see each and every detail as they appear in the real world, but you also need to have color calibration and color accuracy. The only way to do that is to actually blend them (displays) at every pixel in the display area. It turns out to be a nontrivial thing to accomplish, but it works out remarkably well in our finished product.”
next page: The VR-1—For Enterprises
The VR-1 — For Enterprises
The Varjo VR-1 doesn’t just have human-eye resolution unlike any competitor in the market, the device itself is aimed solely at enterprises in industries like AEC, manufacturing sectors like automobile, and aerospace and defense. Back in 2017 once the company had an early prototype, Varjo toured their technology around to find ideal early partners as beta tester customers. The companies that came onboard were companies like Saab AB, Audi, Airbus, and Foster & Partners.
The Tulip (image: Foster & Partners / Varjo for Architosh. All rights reserved.)
They chose famed architecture firm, Foster & Partners, to be their sole beta partner representing AEC. “Foster & Partners had just designed the new Apple Park headquarters, and they were going through a really interesting process working with the Apple folks,” said Konttori. “When we met them we felt that they were so far ahead of everyone else in terms of what they were doing with visualization. Working with them we actually learned most of what we would have learned from other companies,” he added.
Konttori noted that they did learn things that they were not able to solve in the first version of their VR headset. “So we are looking at those issues for the next generation of the product,” he adds, “and this applies to the other industries and not just AEC.”
Listening to early beta partners proved critical to the creation of the final VR-1 device. For example, the Varjo VR-1 features an optical chord as opposed to one with copper wiring like the other headsets. The reason is the automotive companies needed their designers and engineers to be able to walk around an entire virtual car at scale. “This was a tipping point for us, and we realized that other companies were struggling with the cables,” he adds. Their minimum spec to serve companies like VW and Audi was seven meters, but in the end, a Japanese company provided them a 10-meter optical cable. “It is not only long but really flexible and the smallest cable on the market,” said Konttori.
Foster & Partners had just designed the new Apple Park headquarters, and they were going through a really interesting process working with the Apple folks.
As if “human-eye” resolution and the longest cable in the market wasn’t enough, the VR-1 also features best-in-class eye-tracking technology called 20/20. With sub-degree accuracy corresponding to the size of your fingernail at arm’s length away from you, the Varjo VR-1 is actually proving a big hit within the aerospace industry where existing simulation and training technology costs range in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
next page: Game Changing Advantages
Game Changing Advantages
Varjo VR-1 can offer a radically cheaper alternative to pilot simulation and training. Honed by their interactive work with beta partner Saab AB, which was using the technology for their Grippen fighter program, Kontorri told me that the VR-1 was seen as a game-changer.
“So we have been told by many of the aircraft makers that what we are offering is a complete revolution in the training industry,” he said. At the moment, the million dollar dome-based simulation and training systems are in short supply. Furthermore, pilots need to travel far—typically to the aircraft manufacturers’ facilities—to train on the simulators. With the Varjo VR-1, alternative simulation and training can be placed at the facilities of the airline operators.
Varjo VR-1’s accuracy and visual clarity mean that pilots can train is far less costly training setups using VR-1 than in multi-million dollar full dome simulators.
When it comes to Varjo’s three main market areas (AEC, Design, and Simulation and Training), it is simulation and training that is driving the most significant revenues thus far. “The full dome simulators cost a couple grand per hour,” said Konttori. “If you can replace that system with something that costs once just ten grand or even twenty, it becomes a no-brainer, and you actually want to go there. So the business case is instant.”
He adds that on the design side for the automakers or the large enterprises you have the same business logic. “If you can shave off even just weeks on the design of a new car, something that typically takes years, it can mean huge savings and beating your rivals to market.”
Audi and other car makers have told Varjo that the VR-1 can save weeks and months off the development time for a new vehicle model, enabling faster time to market over competitors and dramatic savings in car development time.
For the Architecture industry, it is the enterprise-sized firms that are telling the Finnish company the business case is strong. With the Varjo VR-1 architecture firms are cutting down on the number of physical models and it is also speeding up the design process itself. Konttori said that for smaller firms he does see the whole AEC segment eventually coming around to VR. “It’s going to happen fast once the ball starts actually rolling.”
Varjo VR-1 Basics
Getting going with the VR-1 is also getting easier. Aside from the company’s API for software developers, there are Unity and Unreal plugins that make pushing your model to the headset a simple process for those using game-engine workflows. Varjo is also committed to the Khronos Group’s OpenXR open-industry standard, which will make it easier for all VR software makers to work with a variety of actual VR hardware.
Most of Varjo’s customers already own either an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. The VR-1 works with Steam VR technology. “We decided we wanted to use best-in-class tracking technology and chose Steam VR technology,” said Konttori. The VR-1 pairs up with Vive controllers and lighthouses, so a customer’s Vive setup is ready to go for a new Varjo VR-1.
Looking Down the Road with Varjo
The future of VR is quite healthy from where this Finnish company is standing. While the device carries a $5,999.USD price tag and is only available to businesses and institutions the flagship headset is shipping worldwide, and the company is growing. With fundraising over $46 million and a new US-based office on the east coast near Washington DC—a location that may suggest business connections with government agencies like the Pentagon—Varjo has little reason to worry about VR falling out of favor due to AR (augmented reality) emerging on the scene.
The Varjo VR-1 is proving a game-changer in multiple industries and their design and engineering workflows. The device is VR today but soon to set to be supplemented by a mixed reality (MR) adaptor kit giving it even more value to companies.
In fact, the company plans to release its mixed reality (MR) technology very soon. The MR product will be an add-on to the VR-1, not an entirely new device. In fact, the next-generation Varjo won’t likely come until around early 2020, says Konttori, who made no promises or commitments with schedules but only said that Oculus and Vive ship new units around every 24 months.
Mixed Reality may be Varjo’s next act, but Konttori notes that “human-eye” resolution-based virtual reality (VR) solves issues that AR and MR simply don’t. “We see MR as a huge thing but it’s really interesting to think of a car designer because they couldn’t care less about how their car looks at their office. What they want is to see their car on a specific road or Berlin Plaza. Again, it’s the VR technologies we have in Varjo VR-1 that brings these capabilities to the market,” said Konttori.