This is the second in a series of stories about virtual reality innovation and the North Carolina company with groundbreaking technology that some believe could transform, and take mainstream, the VR industry.
Most big ideas start small. This one wasn’t any different.
Five years ago, David Smith was in a coffee shop tinkering with $2 magnifying glasses—the nondescript credit card-shaped type you might see on an old dresser or in a clearance bin at a bookstore. He stacked two together and placed them to his eye, then four, then six. Intrigued by what he saw, he eventually bought 10 and took them home.
“Most inventions are based on hard science and math, but half is pure observation. The idea is usually there, but you have to know what you’re looking for too,” he recalls.
This excitement is one reason the company has been able to secure over $1 million in funding since last year, and why it’s making it to market so quickly. A crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which the team is using as a pre-ordering and final-push-to-launch effort, went live this month. With two weeks left, it’s more than halfway to its $100,000 goal.
The SKY looks simple, and that’s part of the point. It’s easy to use and make, but with the power of Lockheed and an engineer like David Smith behind it, it could make quite the splash on the VR scene.
