Every major AR and VR headset today shares the same fundamental flaw: the vergence-accommodation conflict, the visual mismatch that causes the eye strain and nausea holding the industry back. Tomas Sluka, co-founder and CEO of CREAL, calls this a "dead-end" problem—and he's dedicated his company to solving it.
In this episode, Tomas explains how CREAL's pioneering light-field display is solving this industry-wide challenge by creating technology that doesn't just project an image, but reconstructs light itself to be indistinguishable from reality.
Discover how this breakthrough enables natural, continuous focus, unlocks the revolutionary possibility of digitally simulating prescription lenses, and ultimately forms the foundation for the ultimate human-AI interface. This is an essential listen for anyone building the future of spatial computing.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) – Introduction and Tomas's background.
- (00:46) – The "Seasickness" Origin: How a personal experience with flawed 3D revealed a fundamental industry problem that others were ignoring.
- (03:53) – The 5% Flaw: Why today's 3D is 95% right, and how the missing 5% creates the visual conflict that causes motion sickness.
- (05:19) – Light-Field Explained: Thomas breaks down light-field technology, explaining why it's the "normal" way of seeing and how it differs from every flat screen we use today.
- (06:34) – The Innovator's Dilemma: Why big tech companies are designed to hit dead ends, and how focused startups are better positioned to solve deep, fundamental problems.
- (07:53) – The "Glasses-First" Strategy: How partnering with the traditional eyewear industry (like Meta with Luxottica) creates a critical foothold in the market.
- (10:39) – Why True AR Isn't Here Yet: Why the biggest challenge for AR isn't finding a market, but solving fundamental hardware problems like power, pixels, and brightness.
- (12:30) – The Smartphone Replacement: The roadmap to replacing the smartphone, moving from today's "desktop PC" VR to a true, all-day wearable AR device.
- (17:20) – The Killer Human-AI Interface: Thomas's ultimate vision for AR as the ultimate interface between human intelligence and AI, providing contextual information in the real world.
EPISODE LINKS:
- Tomas's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomassluka/
- CREAL's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creal-tech/
- CREAL's Website: https://creal.com/
