Paul Travers (Vuzix) on Prioritizing Wearability Over Immersion

Paul Travers is the Founder and CEO of Vuzix, a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets.

Prior to Vuzix, Paul was an engineer at Eastman Kodak, innovating the future of digital cameras. He went on to become a serial entrepreneur, having started multiple hardware technology companies, including in sound cards for PCs and USB connectivity products.

Vuzix was formed more than 20 years ago, and through it, Paul has seen spatial computing technology evolve from the early days of VR in the mid-1990s to the highly capable AR smart glasses of today.

In this conversation, Paul describes the Vuzix hardware lineup, including the Blade and the M-series. We discuss how they’re being used, where they shine, and what’s special about the upcoming Shield device. The Shield will be one of the first devices with a µLED display, and emphasizes “wearability” over field of view or functionality. [quote]

We go on to discuss why wearability is so important and how much field of view is big enough to satisfy a large number of use cases. We also discuss the importance of µLED technology and how to solve for prescription at scale. Paul also describes how he wants to support OEMs in the consumer market and provides an overview of how Vuzix will invest the 100+ million dollars they have recently raised.

You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com.