David Bonelli (Pulsar) on Building AR Hardware that Actually Works
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The Guest
David Bonelli is the founder and CEO of Pulsar, a company of mechanical and optical experts dedicated to solving the hard problems of AR hardware.
David is a U.S. Army veteran who went on to spend several years at the once-venerable Osterhout Design Group (ODG). After creating cutting-edge AR glasses at ODG, he also spent time at Rokid and KFS Industries. Across these companies he designed, managed, and brought to manufacture a range of products spanning optical engineering and augmented reality hardware. It was this set of experiences that really motivated the creation of Pulsar with the goal of lowering the hardware barriers to entry and speeding the design to market timeline.
At Pulsar he’s worked with companies such as Red6, Qwake, Microsoft, and others on AR hardware solutions to meet the needs of everyone from fighter pilots to firefighters to space explorers.
The Conversation
In this conversation, we chat about those projects as well as his experience at ODG building devices such as the R-8. He still uses an ODG R-8 to educate customers on what’s been done and what’s possible, including how much FOV is really necessary to deliver a quality experience.
We go on to talk about the current state of AR hardware and his highlights from the recent SPIE AR/VR conference at Photonics West. David also shares his opinions about which display and optics technologies have the best chance of winning over the long term.
Links From The Episode
- Article: An AR glasses pioneer collapses: After 20 years, ODG falls apart as acquisition offers dissipate - by Lucas Matney for TechCrunch
- Video: CES Interview: ODG Unveils New R-8 and R-9 Augmented Reality / AR Smart Glasses
- Article: Evolving the PC and Smartphone: Rokid Air’s AR Glasses are the Best Head-Mounted Display So Far by Rob Enderle for Techspective
- Article: Hands on with the ODG R-8: AR/VR smartglasses that use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 by Mark Hachman for PC World
- Article: USAF Awards Red 6 $70m Contract for AR Trainer by Demond Cureton for XR Today
- Article: Qwake Technologies Funded To Fight Fires With AR Tech by Charlie Fink for Forbes
- Article: Qwake Tech's AR Helmet Helps Firefighters See Through Smoke And Get Out Of Fire Five Times Faster by Lee Bell for Forbes
- Episode Transcript