The product that everyone first think of is the all-in-one super-experienced VR (virtual reality) while mentioned Pico, fun and cool. In fact, Pico began to layout the core black technology of 3D vision in 2017 and created the flight time (ToF).

      Shanghai Juyou Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "OPNOUS") has been committed to the development of intelligent application solutions based on ToF technology since its inception. Mr. Bill Liu, the founder of OPNOUS, has served as the global vice president of Heptagon in Switzerland, the Asian market and technology director of ADI, and the chip development manager of Texas Instruments. The core R&D team is from the world-leading semiconductor multinationals. OPNOUS not only provides ToF image sensor chips, but also provides complete system solutions. Their products are used in sweeping robots, service robots, drones, smart security, VR and AR (Augmented Reality), and smartphones.

      Pico and OPNOUS are two companies worked on the fertile soil of ToF technology with different backgrounds. What perspective do they use to look at the past, present and future of ToF technology? Memes Consulting invited Mr. Bill Liu, CEO of OPNOUS, and Mr. Yang Hongtao, Vice President of US Business Development, to participate in the  dialogue"!

      MEMS: Thanks to Mr. Bill Liu, CEO of OPNOUS, and Mr. Yang Hongtao, Vice President of Business Development of Pico, for being invited to participate in the “Dialogue”. First of all, please introduce the company positioning and main products briefly, thank you!
Bill Liu: Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to thank you the consultants for the invitation. I am also very grateful for MEMS’s support to OPNOUS. As a technology product development company for smart sensor chips and systems, we are focused on the smart sensor chips and systems, especially the  innovation and development of ToF chips and systems.Through the unremitting efforts of the team and partners, OPNOUS has released a series of ToF chip products, including 100 x 100 pixels, 240 x 200 pixels, QVGA, and will soon release high-precision VGA and more innovative million-level Dynamic ToF products with resolution; and in order to achieve high performance dynamic ToF system, we have launched the industry's first all-intelligent light-emitting driver chip, and plan to launch smart ToF control chip during the year, thus becoming the industry's unique ToF system-wide chip Vendor. In addition to chip products, we have integrated and built a full range of system capabilities to better serve our customers. Based on the chip products, it also provides modular solutions for various applications and algorithms to improve ToF performance, and more optimized optics and platform systems.

       Yang Hongtao: Hello everyone! Pico's products have always been concentrated on VR products.In the past five years, our VR products, whether the main G-series, the light-interactive G series, or the flagship Neo series, have won unanimous praise in the market, and the market share has been the first in China. AR products are also actively being developed. We are considering how to integrate our own capabilities in hardware systems, software algorithms, and capacity on ecological services to provide more value for our customers in related fields. Ultimately, we chose the depth camera as the third product line outside of our VR/AR. In 2016, Pico began to set up a research and development team to start investing. Two products were released in 2017, and shipments began in 2018. In 2019, Pico was design-in by a number of key industry customers and started to mass production.

        MEMS: In terms of R&D of core components of ToF, OPNOUS select the self-developed ToF image sensor chip to build the “Building” of the ToF solution from the bottom; while Pico directly purchases ToF image sensor from internationally renowned manufacturers. Please talk about your respective strategic plans of ToF product !

       Yang Hongtao: The choice of the program mainly considers our target market, our technical capabilities, and the technical characteristics of chip manufacturers.We use the ToF chip solution based on our understanding of ToF technology and recognition of ToF's advantages firstly; secondly, we recognize the characteristics of our chosen ToF chip manufacturers. Relatively speaking, our solutions are more easily accepted by commercial and industrial customers, such as having higher resolution, detecting longer distances, and having a wide range of scene suitability. Over the past two years, we have launched two standard-design products and eight customized products, which have been evaluated and imported by hundreds of customers. As a result, we have built a wide customer relationships, continually improved in about ten important application scenarios, and optimized hardware, algorithms, and systems.I believe that providing differentiated and intimate products based on an in-depth understanding of customer application scenarios is the basis to earn trust; coupled with our excellent supply chain partners and strong overseas marketing team, we have obtained customers’ orders from different industries in domestic, USA, Europe and Japan.We will continue to adjust our product planning, such as adding industrial products, providing a complete set of solutions for certain scenarios, and making global first-line brands in this field through global marketing.

        Bill Liu: The main goal of our ToF product planning is to implement Intuitive Sensing and Dynamic ToF. Based on this goal, we have established the technical route of pulse ToF (pulse ToF) long ago, and continue to develop new technologies and solutions on this route.These include separate ToF receive and transmit modulation systems and an innovative system-wide architecture. Our ToF development is not only just at the sensor level, but also system-wide innovation set out from the system and application, including sensors, lighting control and system-wide underlying algorithm control.We have applied for more than 100 patents in two years and will accelerate innovation and patent applications in the near future.

       MEMS: Will Pico and OPNOUS release any new product this year? If so, please introduce the new product plan and main application areas.Thank you!

       Yang Hongtao: It is expected that in the near future, our next generation VR all-in-one flagship product, Neo 2, will come out. The goal is to achieve one of the world's most advanced VR all-in-ones, mainly for B-side industry customers and C-side game players.

       Bill Liu: OPNOUS has been launching new chips and system products continuously .This year, the industry's first full-featured intelligent ToF LED driver chip will be launched. The high-performance VGA ToF chip and ToF system intelligent control chip will be launched in the near future. The next-generation high-precision and high-dynamic ToF chip will be developed, for major applications,OPNOUS will launch the high-precision face recognition module, high-precision cabinet and volume recognition module which can cover 20-meter long-distance detection module, robot system module and multi-view dynamic ToF system module. OPNOUS will also open up the ToF System Development Lab to work closely with industry partners to develop more ToF applications.

       OPNOUS 3D face modeling
       MEMS: Both of you will participate in the "26th "Micro-Speaking" series activities held in Shanghai on September 3rd: 3D vision technology and application (consumption area), could you reveal your main points in advance? The ToF industry is looking forward to it!
Bill Liu: We will introduce dynamic ToF and Intuitive Sensing to discuss the implementation of high-precision and high-dynamic ToF chips and systems.I am looking  forward to sharing and learning with you!
Yang Hongtao: We will introduce the scene customization of Pico Zense products, the progress of global market development, and the challenges encountered on the application side.