Via Rochester Business Journal
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled wearables, including smart glasses, have given Extended Reality (XR) a popularity boost, but their virtual experiences can feel generic and less immersive than expected. Real-time AI demands faster, more accurate optic sensors than what’s currently available, and without them, XR fails to address users’ intent and immediate personal context, such as thoughts, feelings and social cues.
VoxelSensors, a Belgium-based deep tech startup, has developed a fast and efficient light-sensing technology that improves digital experiences by seamlessly integrating AI with optic sensors. Its proprietary Single Photon Active Event Sensing (SPAES) technology enables spatial awareness and gaze tracking in XR devices to make devices more intuitive, responsive, and empathic.
“We are revolutionizing wearable AI-based applications and agents by operating at the boundaries of physics to recognize users’ individual focus and intent in real-time,” said Johannes Peeters, Founder and CEO of VoxelSensors. “By bringing a new level of empathic abilities to XR and mobile devices, we enable truly immersive experiences that are rich and engaging.”
Experienced Optics, Photonics, and Imaging (OPI) team tackles barriers of AI in XR
VoxelSensors was founded in 2020 by a team of OPI industry veterans experienced in scaling complex technologies into products. The team’s earlier venture, SoftKinetic, a 3D sensing solution provider, was acquired by Sony in 2015.
With deep industry experience and understanding of the challenges of imaging sensor technology, such as the size, power requirements, and performance of existing sensors, the VoxelSensors’ team created PERCEPT, a software solution that enables empathic immersive experiences built on top of its efficient SPAES technology. The solution enhances wearable and mobile devices by incorporating accurate world data from SPAES sensor inputs and intelligent learning of user metrics to track gaze, eye movements, hands, and head to understand what the user is focused on or intends to do. enables devices to accurately perceive and understand user attention and intent within their environments.
“These capabilities provide a new level of experience that includes awareness of the user’s needs,” said Peeters. “A PERCEPT-enhanced AI agent can anticipate those needs even without prompting, distinguish between browsing and genuine interest, understand if they are waiting or searching, identify what draws their attention in a shared image, and more.”
VoxelSensors is focused first on the consumer electronics’ market, including smart eyewear, AR/MR, and mobile devices, as its solution’s low-power and ultra-fast sensing capabilities are well suited for building lightweight-yet feature-rich devices. It plans to expand to other applications in industrial fields, including robotics, drones, industry 5.0, and self-driving vehicles.