Technical / Research - Page 1

Remember the LuminAR project? It just won $15,000 from Audi, as part of their Tony Stark Innovation Challenge. The money will be used to further development of this interesting project. Hopefully it'll help these guys get someone interested in actually commercializing this. Here's the video showing what's LumiAR is all about:

LuminAR is a project from MIT that "reinvents the traditional incandescent bulb and desk lamp, evolving them into a new category of robotic, digital information devices". The LuminAR Bulb combines a Pico-projector, camera, and wireless computer in a compact form factor. It has a gestural user interface, and just-in-time projected information.

Nichia's green laser for pico-projectors is ready, and the company will start shipping samples in August. They plan to start volume production in summer 2011. The oscillation wavelength of the laser is 510nm, which is a little short for green color, but Nichia claims that the laser looks green.

Nichia says that their laser directly emits green light (as opposed to infrared with a second harmonic generation or blue laser converted to green using fluorescent materials). So the diode is smaller than what's currently available.

Intel researchers have developed a new, smart touch-projected display using a pico-projector and a camera. The camera recognizes 3D objects in real-life, and use them to create virtual touch-based menus. So if you use it in your kitchen, and put a few vegetables on the counter, the camera will recognize them and offer relevant recipes right on the counter. Intel's system can work on almost any surface - including glass, granite and wood.

Intel research pico-projector touch photo

Intel is not the only company working on such devices. Light-Blue-Optics is close to commercial their Light-Touch, which is a 10" laser based projector that includes an infra-red sensor for the touch. Microsoft is also working on a similar solution.

Syndiant's CTO is a big believer in HD pico projectors - he says that Syndiant are already working on these, and expect to sample a module later this year. These will go into volume production in 2011. Karl also posted some more information about the 6-way pico projector shootout they were showing at SID. Here's a nice photo showing a closeup of their LCoS technology projectors vs DLP and Laser-Beam-Steering:

Read his full post here. Disclosure: Syndiant is a sponsor of PicoProjector-Info.

A few weeks ago, Foryou announced a new optical engine (the PE-620) that will be released in July. It will feature low power (3W), 20 lumens and a WSVGA (1024x600) resolution (it uses Syndiant's SYL2061 LCoS panel, driven by a RGB LEDs). The size will be 17cc (54x39x12mm). Foryou has sent us several photos comparing the new module to 3M's MPro-120 pico projector. The MPro-120 features 640x480 resolution, 12 lumens and costs $244 (Here's our in-depth review).

So obviously the PE-620 offers a brighter and sharper image, as you can see in the photos (here's the PDF with all the photos). Keep in mind that Foryou themselves sent those in - so this isn't an objective test of course. It's a shame that they didn't compare it to 3M's latest MPRo-150, which has a brighter image at 15 lumens. The Mpro-150 is available for $346. Read our full review, we really like this projector.

Formosa Epitaxy say they have shipped one million green LED chips in May to three pico-projector vendors in Taiwan and South Korea. They expect pico projector shipments to account for 10% of revenues, about NT$70-80 million (US$2-2.5 million), at year's end.

With patent licensing for high-power LED from Luminus Device, Formosa Epitaxy's green LED chip achieved an efficiency of more than 100lm/W (they say it's the highest in the industry). Standalone pico projectors typically require four green LED chips and built-in models need two.

ASTRI is showing their pico-projector modules at Projection Summit, and are giving us some more details.

The first module is aimed toward stand alone pico-projectors, and is based on Syndiant's SYL2061 LCoS module that supports a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. The volume is 17cm³, and it's already on the market with a $80 price tag. It reaches 20lm brightness with 2.3W power, and the contrast is 300:1.

The second module is aimed towards embedded pico-projectors, and it's much smaller - 4cm³. It uses Syndiant's SYL-2030 LCoS module which offers a WVGA resolution (854x480 pixel) in a 6mm package. With 1W of power the brightness is 8lm - but ASTRI plans to raise the brightness to 10lm. The current cost is $40 and ASTRI hopes to lower it to $25 by 2011.