An interview with Jeri Ellsworth - Absorptive Augmented Actuality

The Amp Hour · 29 May 2013 · 2h 06m · Episode 147

What this episode covers

Jeri Ellsworth, founder of Technical Illusions, discusses the CastAR system, an augmented reality platform using retroreflective projection and low-cost optical tracking. She details her departure from Valve Software, where she led the AR hardware team, and explains how Valve allowed her to take the technology to start her own company. The conversation covers the technical challenges of achieving sub-millimeter head tracking with cheap image sensors, the use of metalized gate arrays to hit a sub-$200 price point, and their strategy to launch via Kickstarter.

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  • Embedded.fm · 1h 07m

    23: Go For Everything I Want

    Jeri Ellsworth, co-founder of Technical Illusions, discusses the development and Kickstarter launch of CastAR, a projected augmented and virtual reality system. She details the technical breakthroughs that solved motion sickness, including the use of retro-reflective materials and custom FPGA-based tracking, and explains the decision to fund via Kickstarter rather than venture capital to maintain control. Ellsworth also reflects on her time building hardware at Valve, her history with the Commodore 64 toy, and the challenges of transitioning from research to shipping physical products.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 21m

    156: Black Knight 2000

    Jeri Ellsworth, president of CastAR, discusses the company's mixed reality headset, which uses a belt-mounted console to keep weight and heat off the user's head. She details the decision to refund an early Kickstarter campaign to pivot from a PC peripheral to a self-contained device, a move funded by Playground Global. Ellsworth also outlines CastAR's hiring strategy, emphasizing whiteboard interviews for practical engineering problems over trivia, and their focus on social, tabletop-style gaming experiences.

  • Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast · 2h 03m

    026 - You Can Lose in so Many Colors!

    Jeri Ellsworth, founder of Tilt Five, discusses her journey from reverse engineering Commodore 64 chips for the DTV toy to launching an augmented reality tabletop gaming platform. She details the technical challenges of emulating legacy silicon quirks, the manufacturing failures in China, and her strategy of using viral marketing to drive early sales. Ellsworth also shares insights on her current startup's upcoming Kickstarter, the importance of genuine brand personality, and her favorite tools for hardware debugging and assembly.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 21m

    162: I Am a Boomerang Enthusiast (Repeat)

    Alan Yates, a hardware engineer at Valve responsible for the Vive tracking system, explains the Lighthouse optical tracking technology, contrasting it with camera-based systems like Oculus. He details the engineering challenges of latency, GPU performance, and vestibular mismatch, and describes how the system uses spinning mirrors, photodiodes, and Kalman filters to achieve sub-millimeter precision. The conversation covers the transition from 3D-printed prototypes to mass production, the choice of ST and NXP microcontrollers, and Valve's philosophy of making hardware hackable for the developer community.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 21m

    162: I Am a Boomerang Enthusiast

    Alan Yates, a hardware engineer at Valve responsible for the Vive tracking system, explains the Lighthouse optical tracking technology, which uses spinning mirrors and infrared lasers to achieve sub-millimeter precision. He details the engineering challenges of combining high-frequency IMU data with lower-frequency optical updates using Kalman filters, and discusses the decision to use ST and NXP Cortex-M0 microcontrollers for the 'Watchman' receivers. The conversation covers the transition from 3D-printed prototypes to mass-produced base stations, the importance of hackability, and the community's reverse engineering efforts.

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