The rise of ARKit and ARCore have made the creation of augmented reality (AR) apps a lot more tangible for developers, especially considering the millions of smartphones in consumer hands. Yet there are specialist AR companies looking to further develop and unlock the potential of the technology, one of which is Ubiquity6, an AR startup that’s recently secured $10.5 million of investment.
Founded in 2017 by alums from Metamind, Facebook, Tesla, Twitter and Stanford, Ubiquity6 managed to raise the funding through a Series A round led by Index Ventures, with First Round Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Google’s AI fund Gradient Ventures, LDVP, A+E and WndrCo.
In a blog post on the announcement, Ubiquity6 outlined the core goals the company was aiming for with its AR software, including some of the core technology being used to implement it such as real time 3D mapping, photogrammetry, multi-user localization, and deep learning for semantic segmentation.
The four core building blocks Ubiquity6 is focusing on to make its dreams of AR a reality are: spatial sharing, persistence, intelligence and browsing. Spatial sharing is about the computer learning a location a user happens to be in so that they can then be shared and synced together. Persistence is just that, virtual objects staying in place even after a session has ended. The software also needs to be intelligent enough to recognise actual objects, so a bed is very different from a door. While browsing is the final piece of the puzzle, a way for everyone to enjoy the content whether that’s in AR, VR, MR or in a browser.
“Allowing anybody with a smartphone to edit reality is ultimately a way for us to achieve our mission — to unlock entirely new ways for people to connect in the physical spaces they care about,” said Cofounder and CEO Anjney Midha.
Ubiquity6 is due to launch its first AR product Ubiquity for iOS and Android this summer. Head to its website to sign up for early access and for any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR