Headset Patent Offers Up an Inside Look at Magic Leap

Magic Leap mixed reality headset unveiled by design patent

By Brad Jones June 8, 2016

magic leap headset patent version 1466109363 — USPTO

There’s been plenty of talk about Magic Leap over the last year — as is likely for any startup that manages to raise billions of dollars — but the company is still keeping its supposedly groundbreaking technology under wraps. However, we’ve now been given our best glimpse so far of what’s in development behind closed doors.

Magic Leap has been awarded a design patent for its mixed reality headset, and the company was required to submit drawings of the hardware as part of the process. Now, those illustrations have been released to the public.

The headset on show doesn’t look a million miles away from the likes of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, but it’s fair to say that its look is a little bit more futuristic. Most of the user’s face is covered with a large dish that covers two eyepieces, which has prompted comparisons to everything from RoboCop to a pilot’s helmet from Star Wars with its blast shield lowered.

However, this perhaps isn’t the final design that you can expect Magic Leap’s headset to adopt when it’s available to the public, whenever that might be. Magic Leap’s director of PR has already stepped in to state that the designs are part of the research and development process and aren’t indicative of a finalized consumer product, according to a report from The Verge.

That being said, these drawings do at least tell us that a headset is part of the company’s plan. Given Magic Leap’s intention to deliver a mixed reality experience distinct from anything being developed by its competitors, there was every possibility that its design approach could have been markedly different.

Of course, this is just a parting glimpse of what’s going on internally at Magic Leap. Hopefully, we’ll see more of its potentially game-changing tech sooner rather than later.

Editors' Recommendations