castAR

castAR was an augmented reality hardware and interactive software company developing projected, shared tabletop experiences. Its system combined wearable glasses, optical tracking, physical input devices and developer tools to place stereoscopic digital imagery onto retro-reflective surfaces. The company worked across consumer electronics and game development, bringing hardware engineering and software production together around a tabletop mixed-reality platform.

Its central display concept used twin micro-projectors mounted on glasses to project images onto specially prepared surfaces. Tracking technology aligned the imagery with the viewer, while a dedicated wand provided input for interaction with virtual objects. The resulting experiences included holographic board games, strategy dioramas and physics demonstrations. Alongside the glasses and controller, castAR developed an SDK and Unity plugin for building spatial applications and mixed-reality games. These tools supported its effort to establish a developer platform around the hardware.

The business grew from augmented reality research begun within Valve in 2012. After Valve redirected its hardware work toward virtual reality, the researchers received permission to retain their work and intellectual property. They founded Technical Illusions in March 2013 to commercialize the projected display system. The company subsequently moved from Washington to Silicon Valley in late 2014 and adopted the castAR name.

During 2016, castAR expanded its software operation by establishing an internal game development studio in Utah. It recruited former Disney Infinity developers and later absorbed the development staff of Eat Sleep Play to build a first-party library of mixed-reality games. The earlier games made by that team belonged to its separate studio history.

castAR ceased operations on June 26, 2017, after failing to secure further financing. Its hardware and software operations closed, and its assets entered liquidation. The underlying retro-reflective optical technology later passed to Tilt Five, a separate company established by co-founder Jeri Ellsworth and former colleagues, which continued developing the tabletop augmented reality concept.