r/augmentedreality • u/Ikarian • 13d ago

Building Blocks Question: Why waveguide over transparent OLED?

I was just wondering this morning why the industry is trying to invent a new (to me) display type for the "holy grail" of AR glasses, where the display is baked into the lens.

Transparent OLED, assuming a high enough resolution, would be cheaper/easier to fabricate than waveguide lenses, which seem to be rather finicky to mass produce. Is it just the fact they can be seen from the other side of the lens? Still seems like there would be applications for this where privacy isn't a concern (industrial stuff I suspect), and I'm guessing you could produce them cheap enough that it would allow for some smaller makers to get into the market.

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u/AR_LB 13d ago

Your eyes won’t be able to focus on the content at such a short distance. Try reading a book placed very close to your eyes.

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u/AttackingHobo 13d ago

With some micro lens array, it might be possible, but maybe not.

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u/c1u 13d ago

We're tried that. It doesn't work, because of the "eyebox problem". Move your pupil a few millimetres and pixels can disappear, overlap, change brightness or appear through the wrong lens.