Faced with the dominance of the tech giants, it’s rare to find start-ups that dare to dream big and challenge established norms. Lynx Mixed Reality is one such bold company we went to meet, and the object of our curiosity is this long-awaited Mixed Reality headset, the Lynx-R1. While the world of immersive technology is dominated by giants such as Apple and Meta, this French startup is striving to create a product that can rival, and above all stand out from, those of the titans.
After a brief visit to the prototyping room, where we met experts from the fields of optics, aeronautics and IT – the men behind the scenes at Lynx – we were given the unique opportunity to try out the headset as a prelude to our discussion with founder Stan. The timing of our interview was perfect, to say the least. Indeed, the week before our meeting, Stan was officially announcing the dispatch of the first helmets to their recipients!
Let’s dive into this fascinating conversation to find out what makes this product so special.
Lynx MR – A Stan Larroque interview
“This is incredible!” That’s my reaction when I put on the headset. The boundaries between the digital and the tangible reality that surrounds me blend, merge and then harmoniously blur. While my peripheral vision and field of view remain unaltered, I perceive the physical presence of a part of my body, and as soon as I stretch out my hands in front of me, they become precisely integrated into this immersive environment. I’m experimenting with a planetarium-type application. I have our solar system in front of me, floating in the real environment that surrounds me. The trajectory of a planet catches my eye. Instinctively, I move closer to it, slipping subtly into an entirely virtual universe, now eclipsing my tangible reality. I find myself plunged into another dimension, another space, another moment. As I take a step backwards, a sensation of transition takes hold. The helmet, like a portal, gently brings me back to reality. The virtual environment begins to fade, and I’m once again anchored in the real, tangible world. In front of me, however, the solar system continues to come alive, skilfully blending reality and virtuality. I’ve just had a Mixed Reality experience.
I take off the headset. It’s in a relaxed atmosphere, conducive to discussion, that we start questioning Stan, curious to know more about the first deliveries announced a few days earlier. “Right now we’re shipping to 300 people, 500 in November and then 1000 a month…” If you’ve never had the chance to meet Stan, you should know that he himself is the most dedicated person when it comes to introducing the helmet, and it’s in this vein that he confides in us, with a mixture of pride and emotion: “Before you arrived, I was at the post office sending out helmets. […] In fact, it’s important for me, the helmet was late, a lot of people had doubts, and it’s important for me to be able to look them in the eye and say: ‘I’m sending them personally’. The first ones… then it’ll be another process!”
In the world of consumer electronics, it’s a matter of national pride to see a French product win such recognition. As Stan points out, like the iPhone, it’s exceptional in one’s life to make a product from A to Z: from the imagination, through prototyping and design, to production, and to see it so well received and eagerly awaited by the public. So, in the end, what’s behind the craze for this helmet? Stan has his own idea, and this is the vision that has guided him so far: “If you come up with a product that sells by itself, there’s something going on. For Lynx-R1, I didn’t run a single advertising campaign. And yet, all our pre-orders were bought.” And it’s true, have you ever seen an advert for Lynx Mixed Reality? As we shall see, this helmet, this immersive device, has many convincing assets. Let’s (re)discover them together throughout this interview. But in the final analysis, what market is this wave of adoption aimed at, and who is this headset really designed for? “The XR hasn’t yet taken off on the B-to-C side. […] with the team we said to ourselves that we’re going to be the B-to-B pros, because in B-to-B nobody’s going to buy Meta headsets and deploy them by the thousand. There may be exceptions, but people buy Meta headsets at more reasonable prices and then go and see their IT department…
Stan doesn’t need to finish his sentence, the context is known: RGPD, data privacy, software… This is a key element to emphasize: Lynx’s vision doesn’t just go against the “GAFAMs”. It aims to restore the power of choice over our personal data. Like modern telephones, these types of immersive devices meticulously capture our physiognomic measurements and information. Thanks to cameras that film both inside and outside the helmet, they can now capture every nuance of our environment and reactions, offering an unprecedented and comprehensive perspective of our living environment. Now, more than ever, our private data comes to the fore and becomes particularly sensitive.
Perhaps that’s really what sets this helmet apart? In the notion of “privacy”? We put the question to Stan: “We have competitive advantages that GAFAM will never be able to match. Today, our helmet is cool and high-performance: we’re happy with the result. You can always tell us ‘oh yeah, but the Quest 3 is going to have (…) better screens, ok’ and so on. On the other hand, beyond the technical issues, you have the advantages of ecosystem, privacy, etc., which they’ll never be able to match. That’s Lynx’s strength, and its relevance at the heart of the market.” As you can see, Lynx’s main target is BtoB and industry.
As for Meta, for all the reasons we’ve just mentioned, it mainly targets BtoC and a more gaming-oriented audience. And what about Apple? Well, it opens up the market even further. Nevertheless, elements such as the remote battery make the Vision Pro a headset that can quickly be limited. “Apple’s headset is great, because it’s an untouchable headset at 4,000 francs. It’s even better for us because it validates our whole thesis (of market positioning).” In this challenger dynamic, it’s not simply a question of keeping up with the pace, but of dictating it. And to maintain this position, Europe has answered the call, investing 8 million euros to make Lynx the industry’s flagship helmet.
But why all the hype? The answer is simple: the RGPD (again). Europe, the undisputed champion of digital regulation, sees Lynx as much more than just a helmet. It’s a symbol of sovereignty. Lynx Mixed Reality is not just an innovation, it’s also a vehicle for the values embodying the spirit of the RGPD and Europe’s sacred mission: to protect the digital integrity of its citizens.
BtoB, BtoC, Entertainment, different markets but a common goal! Stan sees Mixed Reality more as a new medium than a technology in its own right. “I think there’s going to be a new kind of entertainment coming with Mixed Reality. With the Lynx, the Quest 3 and the others (meaning here the latest Pico, as well as the Apple Vision Pro), we’re entering a phase where there’s a new medium that’s really emerging. And there’s going to be a lot of experimentation in terms of content. We’re going to stop talking about AR or VR, but witness a convergence around mixed reality.” In fact, this is precisely where the Apple firm comes in, wanting to revolutionize the world of entertainment and the way we consume multimedia content. With spatial computing, we’re entering an era in which digital surfaces can be multiplied as and when required, offering unprecedented flexibility: screens placed here and there without constraints of size or shape, completely redefining our relationship with technology. More than just a brand, it’s a phenomenon that creates tsunamis of adoption with every innovation. With its stunning entry into the world of the XR, it is poised to expand and energize the market.
It is against this backdrop, and this choice timing, that Lynx clearly stands out from the titans with values backed by Europe, and supported by France. In its medium-term vision, Lynx aims to position itself as a European leader. Stan has no trouble projecting himself, and shares his vision with us. “In fact, if we talk again in 2 years I’ll tell you the same thing. We’re just at the beginning of this MR wave. And Lynx is in it for the long haul. We’re sending out the R-1 now, but we’re already working on the rest. Our roadmap runs over several years, to cover the development costs of both the hardware and the software ecosystem. We have the weapons to become a European champion of immersive technologies.” On closer examination, this headset in Lynx’s great odyssey is ultimately just the first chapter in a great story. “Today the headset is only 20% of the story, the rest is the cost, it’s the store, it’s the platform, it’s how we distribute the content and that’s the battle for us that’s starting right now, right here.”
Referring to a recent event in which Meta suddenly decided to remove 4 (popular) games from its platform, causing panic among studios, Stan sees his ecosystem as a lifeline extended to this community of developers. “The worry with existing platforms is that developers there become totally dependent on the decisions of American GAFAMs or Chinese giants. There’s no freedom, no room for discussion. The arrival of new stores makes sense to open up the market, and may enable independent studios or developers to find new outlets.” Ultimately, Lynx’s promise is to offer choice, and to stand for values.
On the development side, standards that are doing us a world of good, too: “Standards like Open XR are really catching on, and that’s one of the best things that’s happened to our company. […] Porting a Hololens app to Lynx takes 15 minutes, really. A Hololens developer told me, “I’ve ported the hell out of it“. And on Quest it must be 1 or 2 days of work. But it’s the same OS (operating system) behind it. It’s Android without the Google overlay, and their Open XR runtime respects the standard, so it’s pretty cool”. It’s like a kind of alignment of the planets, with almost everything facilitating Lynx’s entry into the market, and how a French start-up can come up against giants who spend up to 3 billion a quarter and sell at a loss. We ask Stan to tell us the story of Lynx, an odyssey fraught with pitfalls, where every turn reveals challenges to be overcome. “The Lynx story, it’s a Netflix series…” I take him at his word, and offer you what could be, truly, a Netflix original series. Let’s hear it.
Lynx: a Netflix-style original series?
Montreuil, France. A student room. A DK2. A vision. Immerse yourself in a world where passion, innovation and determination merge to give birth to a technological revolution. From one man’s idea to the international tech scene, discover the true story of Lynx’s rise in the world of immersive technology. Faced with tech giants, skeptics and his own doubts, he will strive to realize his vision. This thrilling series takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of tech, the challenges of French-style innovation and the passion that drives someone to turn an idea into reality. Follow an innovator on his bold quest to redefine our perception of reality.
Episode 1: The Montreuil Spark.
In a student room in Montreuil (France), an intrepid young man is captivated by an Oculus DK2. For many, it’s still just a gadget, but for him, it’s the start of a journey that will change his life and the world of what is now considered mixed reality.
Episode 2: The Fusion of Vision
Discovering the limits of virtual reality, our inventor, inspired and determined, adds cameras to his DK2, creating a bridge between the real and the virtual and defining a new vision for the immersive world. This went against the grain of the path taken by Microsoft, at the time the undisputed market leader.
Episode 3: Alliances and the quest for support
During a trip to Strasbourg, our inventor meets Bernard Kress, a key figure at HoloLens. These exchanges open up new horizons and unexpected collaborations take shape, strengthening his determination. Armed with his innovative prototype, he embarked on the difficult search for financing. Despite the obstacles and a hesitant France, each refusal strengthened his determination to make his dream a reality.
Episode 4: Covid-19 knocks everyone out, but Lynx gets back in the ring
The Covid-19 pandemic turns the world upside down, testing our innovator’s resilience and determination. On the advice of Palmer Luckey during a stay in California, he turns to the public to validate his vision. A Kickstarter campaign is launched. The enthusiastic response strengthens his conviction that his invention has a place in the future of immersive tech.
Episode 5: Overcoming Production, and relying on the best
The helmet goes into production, with its share of challenges. From quality problems to unforeseen delays, each stage tests the team’s tenacity. It’s imperative to rely on the best to make the best. Major partnerships are signed, in particular with Qualcomm, which provides considerable support on the hardware and supply chain fronts.
Episode 6: The culmination of a dream
2023 marks the culmination of Lynx’s hard work, with the first helmets ready to conquer the world. Expectations are running high, and everyone is looking forward with optimism to the promises that must be kept.
Episode 10: Facing the giants, the future takes shape
Looking ahead to 2024, Lynx’s future looks bright. Freshly endorsed by Europe as “the industry’s helmet”, will Lynx really have to go toe-to-toe with Meta et al. But will Lynx really have to fight hard for a place between Meta and Apple, which is just entering the market?
In fact, the starting point, the thing that sets everything in motion, is the trial of this Virtual Reality headset. At the time, it was the second version of the Oculus development kit, the DK2. Stan vividly remembers how he felt at the time.
“When I first put it on my head, I thought it was great, but too bad I couldn’t see through the helmet…” In a feeling of mixed limitation and inspiration, Stan had the instinct to shift paradigms. At a time when we were talking about VR on the one hand and AR on the other, Stan was already considering this mix between the 2. Why confine yourself to one medium or the other, when the device can do both? “The first thing I did was to take this VR headset and connect a camera to the outside of it to make it an AR device. I haven’t actually done much pure VR in my life.” Stan’s idea is relatively simple: position cameras on the front of the headset to film the real world, and transcribe it back into the VR headset. Technically speaking, this is what we call VST – video see through – because we actually see the world around us through a video retransmitted in the headset. An idea that may seem simple today, but put into the context of a decade ago is a little less so: “HoloLens was taking off, making a lot of noise. And so everyone had rushed into mixed or augmented reality “by transparency” (hence OST).”
At the time, let’s not forget that the undisputed leader in augmented reality was Microsoft, with its Hololens headset. Their approach is what we call OST – optical see through – in other words, we perceive our real world through the transparency of the helmet’s lenses. Small projectors send an image composed of light (a hologram) onto these lenses, which is displayed in 3D and contextualized in our real environment. “The first mixed reality choices blew me away! Integrating a camera into a headset wasn’t actually that expensive… And that’s what makes the difference, a much larger FOV field, visible environments and so on. Our initial choice has since been adopted by the majority of other manufacturers.” Once again, isn’t that Einstein’s old adage? To whom we associate that “simplicity is the key to innovation”. In keeping with the protection of personal data, Lynx’s vision, from the outset, was to give developers free rein and access to everything in terms of hardware: “Access to cameras and sensors will enable absolutely crazy things to be done, which weren’t possible with other headsets. The hardware was there to do it. All the doors were left open on Lynx R-1 for that.”
On Qualcomm, Stan adds: “Qualcomm is a real opportunity for us, and our biggest partner. Their chips are the most powerful on the market. And beyond that, it was a supply chain gateway, a real competitive advantage.” Whatever the case, you really get the impression that this headset is designed to cover every aspect of its use, from the data privacy we mentioned earlier, to hardware accessibility for developers, to the end user. “For me, it’s the HMI (man-machine interface, editor’s note) of the future, you see it’s no longer the same mouse, it’s no longer a touch screen, it’s no longer a keyboard, it’s you. It’s so powerful!” Another fundamental element at Lynx is that design is created for the user, with notions of UX (user experience) and strong HMI. We try to eliminate the slightest friction – that feeling that requires you to make a major cognitive effort when carrying out a task. Here, when I put on the headset, there was no need to log in, create an account, or even scan my environment. And in this dynamic, what could be more natural than to interact directly with our hands? However, asking for gestures that contradict our natural instincts is a recipe for “bad-UX”: uncomfortable, counter-intuitive and counter-productive.
“If you have your hand above the shoulder, it’s over. You mustn’t do it. […] we humans don’t raise our hands. We put our heads down.” Rare are the times when we need to bring our hands up to head height to look at or interact with them, yet … this is what predominates in terms of UX during immersive experience , UI are at your eye level , and it’s up to your hands to go up and adapt to this environment. “(Other) headset designers are always: the person is upright and looking forward. And that’s never what happens in real life. Your eyes are looking 15 degrees down, all the time. When you move your eyes, you also move your head…. Anyway, there are lots of things like that that you learn when you’re making an optical system for a helmet, which are elementary.” The startup’s name, Lynx, is aptly named, as its credo is to put a particular focus on the optical block. “The optical block, generally the screen and lenses in the helmet, is the most important element. […] if you neglect that, you’re not going to make the difference with your competitors. If that’s it, you’re going to do what everyone else is doing, you’re going to make a “little pancake” (the name of the lens types on most helmets today) like everyone else. And we, on every metric that makes up a helmet, said “ok, how do we do it better?”
Leave nothing to chance, and focus on the details. Sometimes you simply can’t do better, so you might as well rely on the best, Stan tells us, and take the best from what’s on the shelves: Qualcomm chip, Ultraleap tracking, hololens 2 type strap, it’s all there. But the optics, he insists. In his opinion, it’s the differentiating element. “The curved shape of the helmet is clearly linked to the optics. In other words, everything in the helmet is designed around the optics. And I think that this attention and respect for optics that we have at Lynx, means that you have an optimal experience – not with the best definition, of course, but it doesn’t matter. The level of immersion is there, and resolution is only 1 degree of that experience. The right “6DOF”, the right hand tracking, good peripheral vision, good timeless geometric alignment, and you’ve got a killer result.” Numerous studies confirm it: beyond simple realistic aesthetics, the secret lies in the ability to trick our brains. To achieve this, the experience must solicit a panoply of cerebral stimuli, creating an immersion so deep that our mind is truly lured. The term “being there” is used to describe the feeling of being truly present in a virtual environment.
“Optics are very important to us. […] That’s why we’ve gone for some crazy optical ideas. And so on the “R2 we’re changing the architecture, completely to achieve a wider field of view, while at the same time having an even slimmer profile.” An even wider FOV and, ultimately, ever-narrower boundaries between the virtual and real worlds. This is one of the promises of the next version of this headset.
Our interview with Stan ends on this note. If you’d like to try out this headset, here are the events where Lynx will be present in the near future:
- I/ITSEC Orlando 2023, November
- CES 2024, January
- Laval Virtual 2024
As we walk away, Stan tells us that he’ll be heading off to “something big in November”, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on him. Stay tuned!
Links :
- Lynx Mixed Reality website : https://www.lynx-r.com/en-fr
- Order your headset : https://www.lynx-r.com/en-fr/collections/frontpage
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