Jana Riethausen 
Every year in early January, the entertainment mecca of the United States transforms into a global tech hub: CES in Las Vegas is THE tech event to kick off the new year. Even though it’s primarily a consumer-oriented show, CES is hugely influential and helps set the agenda for the year. This is what you need to know from the show floor.
Despite a slight slowdown in inflation, the manufacturing industry will face significant challenges in 2024. Products, raw materials and services have become more expensive at all levels of the supply chain. At the same time, these challenges offer opportunities to become more resilient in the marketplace and to leverage the potential of digital tools and technologies. High energy prices and rising labor costs are not only a burden, but also an opportunity for change.
Micro-optics are fundamental components in camera systems for smart devices, mobility applications, or medical products. We speak with Nils Fahrbach, CEO of Printoptix, and Frank Linsenmaier, CTO of Viewpointsystem, about the ambitious project “3DPrintoptixMarket“: Using a novel 3D printing process, high-end micro-optics are manufactured in a single step. Used in Viewpointsystem’s smart glasses, they should enable individual product customization.
Automation and digitalization are reshaping roles and professions in manufacturing. Entire workforces must adapt and learn new skills, such as operating or programming machines and robots, after previously performing manual tasks. There is also a growing need to make work processes more efficient and safer. This is where eye tracking comes in. Companies like Toyota and Denso have already successfully integrated this technology on the shop floor for various applications.
Tiny high-end optics, customizable and suitable for series production: Printoptix from Stuttgart and Viewpointsystem from Vienna aim to bring complex micro-optics to market. They focus on outstanding quality at competitive prices using a novel 3D printing process. Their ambitious cooperation project “3DPrintoptixMarket” is supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) with a grant of 2.5 million euros.
We demand more and more computing power from our devices, but conventional computing architectures are increasingly reaching their physical limits. In their search for new ways to continue scaling up processing, researchers and chip designers are taking inspiration from the way the brain processes information. This is also happening in the EU-funded research project “NimbleAI”: Viewpointsystem and 18 partners are developing a neuromorphic ‘super-chip’ that will be extremely powerful while consuming very little energy.
Get ready for an impressive device for training, education, and documentation – the VPS Lite Unit! With its compact size and lightweight yet robust design, it sets new standards in mobile eye tracking. It will be available from autumn 2023, offering the wearer unique wearing comfort and unrestricted freedom of movement.
For most users our VPS 19 glasses work out of the box without any calibration, providing an auto-calibrated gaze accuracy that is good enough for many applications. For situations that require a personalized calibration, we provide a simple one-point calibration procedure that estimates personalized κ angles for each eyeball and improves the typical gaze accuracy to below 1°.
Soldiers, special forces, police officers – anyone in the field – often have only fractions of a second to make decisions. With the help of advanced mobile eye tracking, operational forces can train their attention and enhance perception. Nils Berger, Founder & CEO of Viewpointsystem, explains how the technology leads to a better understanding of human perception, as well as increased efficiency and security during operations.
Viewpointsystem has brought a strong new partner on board: global electronics service provider Variosystems is the new EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) partner of the Vienna-based deep-tech company.
