Today at Leap Con, Magic Leap spoke briefly about its software roadmap for the end of 2018 and into early 2019, indicating some interesting new features on the way to their AR headset.

With the Magic Leap One headset having just recently launched, the company is continuing to rapidly evolve its operating system and features to achieve its vision of widespread spatial computing.

In a brief preview on stage during the Leap Con keynote, Magic Leap’s Senior Vice President of Software, Yannick Pellet, explored the company’s near-term software roadmap, revealing a some interesting features that developers can look forward to.

Image courtesy Magic Leap

Expected in Q1 2019 are features like two controller support, giving developers the ability to make applications which use a pair or the headset’s 6DOF controllers rather than just one. This will allow developers to give their users more control over applications, and importantly, it’ll more closely mirror the dual controller input capability that many developers have become used to with high-end VR headsets. This could be a challenge as the Magic Leap One controller is based on magnetic tracking, and introducing another active magnetic device could make things complicated.

Also on the roadmap is ‘Iris Detection Login’, a biometric login technique using the headset’s eye-tracking tech to uniquely identify each user who puts the headset on. This could act as a biometric lock for the device (nice to have considering the price tag), or it could be used to identify each user and load up their personal profile automatically without any special login credentials.

Magic Leap One’s core software is called LuminOS, and the company says they’ll be deploying MagicScript in Q1 2019, which will bring Javascript compatibility to the OS. That means Javascript developers can write native code to run on Magic Leap One.

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The roadmap also promises ‘Large Scale Mapping’. While Pellet didn’t go into detail, presumably this means allowing the device to map and understand spaces larger than individual rooms. That could allow developers to build apps which work more reliably across large spaces like an entire home.

As Magic Leap continues to build up the capabilities of their device, developers will be able to make increasingly interesting and useful AR applications with the tools available to them.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • dk
    • Bryan Ischo

      Why crop to the display field of view? Why not show what the whole user’s field of view looks like?

      • jj

        because thats all the ML shows, widening the view makes the tiny view port more apparent

      • dk

        because that would be pointless and the most of the rest of your field of view is covered by the frame of the headset …and the numbers of the fov r clear at this point

    • Sponge Bob

      That’s just some useless game with mainly rotation only controls and even that is not smooth
      Show me full 3D Autocad design in ML

      • dk

        it’s 2 6dof controllers …the point was a dev has already done this …..and they r putting it on their road map as if it’s a worthy news ….and a controller costs close to $300
        …..and that is more or less the quality of the controller tracking ….it’s better than what u can see in the video but has various issues and there r plenty of videos sowing exactly how good it is
        ….show me autocad on the rift :P ….there aren’t super professional apps even for vr yet ….or do u mean u want a 2d/3d cad viewer for some reason …but yeah any device can do that including your phone ….not seeing how that is relevant to anything

  • I’ve always thought Iris login on AR glasses would end passwords and glad it’s being added to first gen products

  • Some people insist on criticizing, but magic leap is doing very well

    • fuyou2

      How much did they pay ya to say that?

      • IsaiahGilliland

        How about you? As far as I can tell, you are all just trolls spreading misinformation. You were wrong about it being vaporware, and you’re wrong that they’re not getting success. Internet person spreading lies = troll.

    • IsaiahGilliland

      The cult of hatred over this device is unreal.

      • jj

        its because originally they promised things and tech that isnt here in the ML today. so people, including me are pretty salty in response to their dishonesty and bad portrayal of their product. You guys joining now are only seeing the end result, and to you it looks good, but to others in the industry, we know this is just the hololens again

        • IsaiahGilliland

          I’ve been following the device since the beginning, watching interviews, etc. It looks like exactly what they promised. Even has eye tracking, which is amazing to have so soon.

          I watched from the beginning as people overblew their promises and outside media hyped the device up to crazy levels. All the time people like you bashed it for some weird reason as if its existence were a personal attack against you. And why even fight over it. It’s just a crazy cool “toy” for heaven’s sake.

          From the beginning, this is exactly what I expected and I think they’re doing great work. If anyone believed the media talking like you were going to live in a digital wonderland, then you got played by the media. Always just listen to the things the people making it say directly, not some 3rd party who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

          • jj

            I’ve only listened to ml about their product, and I also work with supplying various hospitals with hololens so I sure have done my research on all ar headsets including the ml. I never believed them and was calling bs from the beginning, I didn’t just start calling bs now that it’s released. Did you see the origianl trailer for Dr grordbort? And I mean before they re uploaded it with the concept tag? Because they were trying to pass it as actually being able to do that, untill they got word that people were calling them out for fakeness. Just listening to the terms and phrases they use in the conference should raise some flags for you.
            “it’s all about imagination” “we use magic” “revolutionary technology” these are all paper thin claims used to spur excitement when there is none. It’s text book economic psychology 101

          • IsaiahGilliland

            I appreciate your position but I still don’t see what’s the big deal. First of all, I remember that trailer and I don’t remember them trying to pass it off as anything other than a trailer. I remember people being confused whether it was pre-rendered or not, but it wasn’t from them passing it off as something else.

            That’s another problem, what’s the big deal with hating marketing buzzwords. I doubt anyone thinks they actually use “magic” so it’s not misleading. And it is “revolutionary technology”. Eye tracking is revolutionary technology. Photonic lenses are revolutionary technology. Even just room tracking is revolutionary technology. So I don’t get it. And to say it’s “fake” is being misleading and doubly wrong to do for someone in your position who should know better.

            I don’t even plan on buying the device, but it bothers me when I watch a bunch of internet trolls pull out pitchforks and torches and start witch hunting. Even if Magic Leap fails in the market, the work they’re doing at bringing these technologies to consumer level will benefit all everyone. Competitors and consumers. And here finally, it’s not vaporware. It works. So stop it with the crusade already.

          • jj

            eye tracking, photonic lenses and room tracking are not revolutionary anymore…
            They did try to pass it as game play until people spoke out about it, THEN they changed it to conept footage.
            During their entire production and teaser series, SO MANY PEOPLE begged them to release details like the FOV, and the specifically ignored literally everyone on specs. The second specs were released, you could hear people sigh across the nation in anoyance
            They were very secretive about ALL specs and features while only saying buzzwords like magic leading people to think this was something more than the hololense and when they debuted it and we saw it wasn’t 99% of people were unsatisfied. This isnt my opinion this is how it was observed.

            They’re NOT bringing this to consumer level.

          • jj

            I also appreciate your position and am not shutting you down, jsut stating what i know

          • Marcus

            In 2017 Rony Abovitz indicated that his light fields device does not cause a vergence-accomodation conflict. To find out that there are only two focal planes that require several seconds to switch, is what disappoints me personally (very much).

            But hate leads nowhere. If it’s just another AR headset, it’s still something good. There aren’t that many out there.

  • fuyou2

    RoadToVR has been bought out by MagicHeap!..Every fucking Article!! No matter how much Magic Leap tries, still a Pathetic product. With their 4billion dollar funding they can buy a lot of trolls..

    • benz145

      We’re just passing our 7th year anniversary covering the immersive computing space here at Road to VR. I don’t much appreciate being called a troll, or you suggesting we’ve been bought out, even if it’s in jest.

      • Rainfox Wolfstone

        thank you for covering this , I think the source of much of the frustration is their style of leading with 90 percent marketing , poems, and tech later on, setting expectations very high and falling short over and over again, I want them to succeed that is a better world for everyone. price is another major factor, hopefully it can get cheap fast and not turn to crap, a tightrope they are walking (:

      • Let us know when it is the 7th anniversary… I want to celebrate with you!

    • Lobotomook

      This guy needs a hug or a hobby. Looking at all his comments they are either totally negative/disrespectful or just copy paste of how bad magic leap is. Pretty sad there are people like this in the world.

  • dk

    xD

  • Let’s see if they’ll be able to deliver it. Two controllers would certainly be interesting

  • Sponge Bob

    Two controllers with the same design and precision are not needed at all

    I need one very responsive and precise controller for my right hand and something with much less precision for my left hand

    Something like a pair of Nintendo WII remote and nunchak controller

    Human beings just do not have the same precise command of both hands

    Therefore – just one high precision controller for right (or left) hand will be a future standard with (optional) less capable controller for another hand

    They are having insurmountable problems with magnetic tracking even with large battery inside remote – battery life is a huge issue as far as I can see
    That and the size of the coils – cant have coils too big

    Not to mention presence of steel objects nearby

  • oompah

    Thumbs up to magic leap
    keep it up