Greg Werkheiser (ARtGlass) on Telling the Stories of History with AR Smartglasses

02/04/20 • 72 min

Greg Werkheiser is the founder and CEO at ARtGlass, a company providing wearable augmented reality experiences to museums as well as historic and cultural sites.

Greg is a serial entrepreneur, a cultural heritage and civil rights attorney, and a recognized leadership educator, with a particular emphasis on civic leadership.

After two decades of setting the standard in these areas at The University of Virginia, George Mason University, and Cultural Heritage Partners, Greg turned his attention to using technology to better tell the stories of history. This has led him and his team to be an Augmented Reality innovator and one of the largest customers of Epson’s Moverio smartglasses.

In this conversation, Greg describes the emphasis he has placed on helping leaders and citizens make better, more informed decisions.

He shares stories about cultural preservation and the role technology can play in understanding culture and each other. Greg believes telling these stories can shrink the distance between the visitor and the icons that we create from history. It helps visitors better able to see themselves as players in the ongoing arc of society building.

We explore the types of experiences ARtGlass is creating at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon, Madame Tussauds’ Rosa Parks exhibit, and others. We also discuss ARtGlass’ approach to the market, and how they think about the AR technology available today.

To start, Greg shares a story about his humble beginnings and how it has influenced his career.

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

Greg Werkheiser is the founder and CEO at ARtGlass, a company providing wearable augmented reality experiences to museums as well as historic and cultural sites.

Greg is a serial entrepreneur, a cultural heritage and civil rights attorney, and a recognized leadership educator, with a particular emphasis on civic leadership.

In this conversation, Greg describes the emphasis he has placed on helping leaders and citizens make better, more informed decisions.

To start, Greg shares a story about his humble beginnings and how it has influenced his career.

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

Previous Episode

Greg Castle (Anorak Ventures) on Investing in Oculus and Filtering VC Advice

Greg Castle is the managing partner at Anorak Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on virtual & augmented reality, computer vision, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and IoT.

Earlier in his career, Greg was a restaurant entrepreneur before turning to technology as corporate marketer with a focus on gaming and 3D development tools. He found his way to angel investing with a passion for helping specialized teams working on disruptive technologies.

At this point, Greg has worked closely with, and invested in, over 70 companies. He counts six exits among them, including the $3B acquisition of Oculus by Facebook.

In this conversation, Greg shares some of the joys and moments of frustration he felt as an Oculus investor. It turns out that some ideas you get from your investors are better than others.

He also gives his perspective on Facebook as the primary benefactor of VR, and his hopes for another player to push the ecosystem and balance the scales.

Greg goes on to describe his take on the current state of the VR & AR markets and reflects on his own growth as an investor.

To start, Greg recounts an important lesson he learned as an entrepreneur and how he applies that to picking teams as an investor.

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

Next Episode

Phil Greenhalgh (WaveOptics) on the Art and Science of Designing Waveguide Optics for Wearable Displays

Phil Greenhalgh is the Chief Technical Officer at WaveOptics, a leading designer and manufacturer of diffractive waveguide optics. This is a key optical component many in this industry believe can deliver the sort of form factor that can enable the mass adoption of AR smartglasses.

After more than a decade as a professor of Electronic Engineering, Phil shifted his focus to the commercial world. He’s co-founded two technology companies, one of which was acquired by DAQRI for its expertise in Augmented Reality electronics and optics. He then served as the SVP of Engineering responsible for DAQRI’s research and development.

For the last year and a half, Phil has been the CTO of WaveOptics, focused on material sciences, and developing waveguides and projector systems with higher fields of view.

In this conversation, Phil shares his perspective on the importance of waveguides in creating eye-glass-thin smartglasses, and what sets the WaveOptics’ approach apart.

He talks about his background as an educator and some experiences as an entrepreneur. We also get into the science of combiner optics and the many technical trade-offs necessary to make a great experience in a head-worn device.

We go on to talk about his perspective on microdisplays that fit well with waveguide optics as well as his broader perspective on the market. He also gets into some of the successes and lessons learned at DAQRI.

Phil starts by sharing some exploits he had as an amateur pilot.

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