PRESCRIPTION OPTICS PROVIDING A UNIVERSAL LENS FOR AUGMENTED REALITY EYEWEAR

POPULAR aims at developing the first generic Augmented Reality Eyewear (ARE) platform covering the widest range of users and use cases, in professional context, leisure, or in daily life. The ordinary-looking glasses will provide visual, wearable, vestibular, and social comfort, making them suitable for all-day use, including personal ophthalmic correction.Major innovations are related to compactness and invisible technology, optical quality, ultra-low power consumption and long operation times, integrating cost-efficiency aspects as well. SSH aspects will be considered in all stages of the project by using a dual approach with an interplay between Human Driven Design and multidisciplinary system engineering through iterative prototype testing.POPULAR will develop all critical components, namely ultra-low power microdisplay with related optics and electronics, innovative Holographic Lens Mirror, as well as application software, and perform the integration into eyewear prototypes. Demonstration will be achieved by performing end-user tests with the prototypes in 3 realistic use case scenarios: outdoor sports, healthcare, and logistics.The consortium is a unique combination of cross-functional experts, representing the entire value chain. It consists of 10 partners from 4 EU countries, including 4 RTO/ACA, 3 industrial companies of which 2 SMEs, and 3 use-case partners. In addition, an Advisory Board of stakeholders and ethics experts will guide the POPULAR consortium during the main steps of the project.The innovation provided by the project provides a unique chance to the European industry becoming a leader in a growing market of ARE, building on its worldwide leadership in the Eyewear industry and its strong R&D and Innovation capabilities. Through the project demonstrations and the continuous support of the Advisory Board, guidelines covering user, design, market and societal requirements will be developed, supporting deployment in real scenarios.