AntVR, the Beijing-based company known for their 2014 VR headset Kickstarter, is launching a new crowdfunding campaign soon focusing on a hybrid AR headset called simply Mix. The makers are promising a bevy of bells and whistles, including the ability to integrate with the SteamVR platform so users can play VR games too, and all at only $500.

Update (04/17/18): According to a Venture Beat report, AntVR is launching their Mix AR headset in May via a Kickstarter campaign. With the price tag of $500, the Mix AR headset is said to boast a 96-degree field of view, two 1200 x 1200 displays with a 90Hz refresh rate. Inside-out head tracking offers six degrees of freedom.

AntVR is promising to ship to backers “by the end of 2018.”  The company also published a video showing the headset ‘in action’ as it was filmed through its lenses with an iPhone X.

The original article follows below:

Original article (01/04/2018): The company, which launched their first Kickstarter back in May 2014, raked in over $260,000 to realize their wireless VR headset. While the headset actually ended up shipping to backers, the lack of manufacturing experience and a penchant for overpromising the headset’s capabilities—optimistic ambition notwithstanding—ultimately rendered AntVR’s first headset a complete flop. To soften the blow of the tumultuous launch, the company offered a 20 percent discount off the next iteration.

AntVR’s first VR headset, image courtesy AntVR

AntVR has since gone on to ship a number of devices including a room-scale VR headset called AntVR Cyclops, and a number of portable Cardboard viewers, with one such viewer made in collaboration with Lenovo. Not many of these headsets have hit Western shores however, as the company only sells through the China-based webshop AliExpress.

While not much is known about the new AR/VR headset for now (see update above), two photos published by the company show a single camera sensor, two reflective panels/displays, a pair of servomotors mounted on each temple (possibly to change from AR to VR mode), and what appears to be a halo-style strap.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • superdonkey

    if at first you dont succeed… get some free cash from kickstarter suckers.

    • Adrian Jakubiak

      like pimax?

      • Jean

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      • ARjunkie

        Actually, if you keep up with Pimax Development they have a real product they’ve released, actually now 2x products. If you follow their forum and the reddit they have really been trying to be open. I’m not saying it’s perfect as this just sounds pretty scammy and sketch. Pimax has been holding their development and legitimately working through usable prototype builds. I believe they are on v5 or v6 which they were trying to get the full amount of hz per eye. They have more open development and more responses to feedback than most. If I would have had the funds to wait out the market on their 8k kickstarter I probably would have jumped in. From what I understand they are shipping or about to realistically ship the 8k VR out (although I do disagree with the misleading naming architecture).

  • Ted Joseph

    Why are all of these Asian start ups kicking our asses now in terms of first to market products? Come on US, EU and Canada! Lets get our CRAP together!

    • Foreign Devil

      China quickly becoming the new leader in tech and AI. They actually have intelligent government that appreciates the importance of massive investment and research in A.I., cybersecurity, etc. . for national security and market dominance.

      • Meow Smith

        I don’t think they are quiet there yet other wise PiMax wouldn’t have had to rely on wai guo ren kickstarters, they really should be receiving a alot more support from their home country than they currently are.

        That said I agree with you.

        • Jan Ciger

          Even in China the stuff Pimax is trying to do is a niche product at best. Keep in mind that not only the engineering salaries are 10x lower there but also average incomes are 10x lower.

    • mellott124

      Because they can do it cheaper than us. You can pay 10 chinese engineers for the price of 1 in the US.

      • Lucidfeuer

        Bullshit, they do it because they’re willing, which “our” companies aren’t.

        • Jan Ciger

          So where is your VR/AR startup, Lucidfeuer? “Our” companies are created by people like you and me.

          If you think it is so easy to actually create something that works and bring it to market (as opposed to promising the sky using product renders and doctored videos on Kickstarter/Indiegogo and then delivering 0.1% of it, if at all …), you should get in the market and show everyone. Who wouldn’t want to become a billionaire, right?

          Otherwise it is only cheap pub talk about something you have no idea about.

          • Lucidfeuer

            That I don’t talk about, otherwise I could rant and discuss freely on the topic. I don’t want to become a millionaire or billionaire, therefor I probably have more chance to become one (litterally, the first case), but that’s not my aim and focus.

            I could mention a few concrete exemple (but that would be pretentious in that it’s nothing on the scale of those corporations), I could also mention a few conception, but that would be giving out patent for free (and I’d rather prototype and register them myself).

            My reply to mellott above explains what I mean by “willingness”.

        • mellott124

          Not bullshit. Willing is always tied to “can we make money doing it”. If the cost is too high then it doesn’t get done. If my labor pool is cheaper then its more likely I can make money doing it.

          • Lucidfeuer

            But you are arguing from a basically wrong stand-point that these are fields based on quantitative strategic levers, which is only partly true and secondary as far as overall financial strategy, cost/risk, logistic, component etc…go.

            But technology is mainly a “creative”, as in conception, research, design and implementation field, therefor it’s not about cost or labour, it really is about strategic vision which leads willingness to invest the extra cents per specific component which when conceived and implemented well then turned into the right marketing incentive is a strategy based on quality not cost.

    • Graham J ⭐️

      Because everything’s manufactured there. If you grow up around contract manufacturing and make some connections you’re many steps ahead of someone who makes a prototype here but has no clue how to get it on the market.

  • David Herrington

    The UI is nice and having access to Steam VR is great, but controller tracking appears shaky and overlaying all games onto the real world appears very distracting and overwhelming. I’m sure there are some VR apps could use this properly but most Steam VR games do not.

    Nice idea but nearly impossible to implement unless you can switch between full VR (not seeing the real world) and full AR modes.

  • So essentially they have taken a 2.9″ panels from Microsoft Mixed Reality headset (seen in the image as well), maybe even the lenses, then added semi-mirrored angled piece of plastic to project screen into your eyes as well as allowing you still see through the glass. I did this four months ago. I even took the two B/W cameras from my HP Mixed Reality HMD used for stereo SLAM, then all you need to do is mirror the output in Unity or Unreal and voila, mixed reality with positional tracking. However, no mention how this will be “wirelessly?”

    Maybe you can hold off on this since Leap Motion is going to be releasing its own opensource plans to accomplish this as well.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Look! The first honest trailer for an AR headset!

  • brandon9271

    God rays are strong with this one

  • Facts

    About time some create a AR headset small enough to wear in public.

    • Graham J ⭐️

      I don’t think these are that. The picture is taken from a very convenient angle that hides the fact that the screens stick out from your forehead like a baseball cap, and the clear plastic covering everything between that and the lenses.

      No surprise they call them the smallest *with that particular weird FOV*