Secretive, Google-backed augmented reality company Magic Leap has unveiled a new video on YouTube that gives us all a sneak peek at what its team has been working on.
The video was uploaded to the Magic Leap YouTube channel and shows images of augmented reality objects overlaying an office scene. First a little floating robot dances about under a desk, and a very realistic-looking solar system pops up in mid-air as someone works at a desk behind it.
The video has a disclaimer at the bottom that reads, "Shot directly through Magic Leap technology on October 14, 2015. No special effects or compositing were used in the creation of these videos" -- to counter silence anyone who suggests the latest clip has just been made from special effects.
The mysterious augmented and/or virtual reality company has been keeping most of its latest project under lock and key, other than posting a teaser of a first-person shooter game that took place in an office earlier in the year.
Back in June, Magic Leap began releasing some firmer details about its plans, announcing its developer programme. And it was revealed last October that Magic Leap had managed to secure $542 million in a Series B funding round led by Google.
Magic Leap's technology is believed to work in a similar way to Microsoft's highly-anticipated Hololens, overlaying a virtual world over the real one. But details on its actual device are still absent -- we don't know what Magic Leap looks like, or how it actually works.
Magic Leap's CEO Rony Abovitz did reveal in a Reddit AMA in February that he's not a fan of the 3D stereoscopic virtual reality headsets already on the market -- giving a clue as to how his tech will be different: "Our vision for AR and VR is a true replication of visual reality. The ONLY safe way forward is to make a digital light field that is naturally tuned into your brain and physiology. And it's amazing how when you give the mind and body what they want, how much it gives back."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
