HOLOGRAMS ON HORIZON? IKIN SET TO DELIVER FUTURE
Headset-free, volumetric digital imagery could have applications in retail, health care, more
Remember R2-D2 beaming a hologram of Princess Leia pleading for help from ObiWan Kenobi in the first “Star Wars” movie back in 1977?
Now a San Diego company aims to bring similar holograms to real life on desktop and handheld devices.
IKIN, founded four years ago by Taylor Scott Griffith and Joe Ward, is working on volumetric hardware, “neural adaptive” artificial intelligence algorithms and other software to deliver holograms on small devices — including an accessory that attaches to smartphones.
IKIN’s products aren’t ready for prime time yet. They remain in the beta testing or special order phase. When they do launch commercially, they’ll face stiff competition from more established technologies, such as augmented reality smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
“When I look at holographics, I don’t know that there is a huge market today or in the next couple of years,” said Eric Abbruzzese, research director at ABI Research, which tracks the industry. “But I am excited to see the miniaturization of the technology. I think we’re seeing
the first of that with an IKIN.”
If IKIN succeeds in delivering easyto-use holograms without headgear, it could find audiences across a wide range of industries. They include video conferencing — with life-like Zoom calls and more engaging online education — e-commerce, health care, real estate, architecture, remote field repair and gaming.
Griffith, IKIN’s chief technology officer, contends that holograms deliver a more intense emotional experience. He saw that first-hand while working on holographic shows in Las Vegas, which he declined to name. But holograms are used in some stage productions to bring back deceased performers such as Tupac Shakur, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.
“You would have people weeping, especially when it came to the holographic resurrections,” he said. “It is really an incredibly powerful thing.
“I was working to create this optics system,” he continued. “It is easy to create large-scale systems but incredibly difficult to create a functional smallscale system when it comes to holograms. I finally stumbled upon a solution.”
The young company’s technology has popped onto the radar of a U.S. military contractor, which included it as part of a 5G logistics demonstration at a military warehouse in Georgia.
It’s also being explored by an undisclosed cosmetics firm, which is looking to use it for remote product testing.
IKIN has two main projects under development. The ARC is a 32-inch desktop display that projects holograms in ambient light and is directed at businesses. At the company’s San Diego headquarters, ARC produced a hologram of an eyeball, which spun so it could be examined from various angles.
“It’s really cool to be able scan a turbine engine and see it in a hologram for