PROFESSOR HAKAN ÜREY

Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering

ERC Advanced Grant 2013

WEAR3D: Wearable Augmented Reality 3D Displays

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ERC Proof of Concept Grant 2014 ⇒ WEAR3D-POC: Commercialization of Wear3D – Wearable and 3D Display Technology

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ERC Proof of Concept Grant 2016MIRAGE: Augmented Reality Wearable Platform and Screen: Proof of Concept and Commercialization

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ERC Proof of Concept Grant 2019EYECAS: Holographic Vision Simulator for Cataract Surgery

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Prof. Ürey’s ERC funding started with his 2013 grant, which was the first Advanced Grant awarded in Türkiye at that point.

WEAR3D aimed to overcome two fundamental scientific challenges of wearable displays and make them as natural as wearing a pair of eyeglasses:

  1. Eliminate the relay lenses: The action proposed to overcome the focusing problem of the eyes in order to completely eliminate the large relay lenses. As a result, miniaturization of wearable displays will be possible by taking full advantage of the advancements in micro-technologies.
  2. Provide all the essential 3D depth cues to avoid perceptual errors and viewing discomfort

As Prof. Urey’s research and innovation work progressed, he was able to continue supporting his group’s research and innovation efforts on the applications of wearable holographic technology with three additional POC grants (the whole endeavour amounting to around 3 million Euros awarded by ERC as of 2019).

In the first one, WEAR3D-POC, Prof. Urey pursued early exploitation through integrating his display design imagers and sensors to achieve a breakthrough and commercializable product for the next generation human computer interface.

MIRAGE later focused on the development of the integration between the already prdocued head-work platform named CYCLOPS and the transparent augmented reality screens named MIRAGE. The second POC action aimed to exploit the commercial potential of the CYCLOPS platform and the MIRAGE AR screens. Proposed platform was thought to have key advantages compared to existing AR glasses as it did not obstruct the visual field of the user, did not cause any viewing discomfort, was fully integrated (including mobile processor) and consumed low-power.

This second path paved the way for medical applications of the technology. The third POC action, EYECAS focused on the commercialization on a wearable medical device that simulates cataract patients’ vision after surgery.

As PI, Prof. Ürey is leading Koç University’s Optical Microsystems Laboratory.

Prof. Ürey is the inventor of more than 50 issued and pending patents in the areas of displays, imaging systems, sensors, and microtechnologies. His inventions have been licensed to five companies for commercialization and resulted in four spin-off companies.