Optrima-Softkinetics' (ongoing) success story 21.11.2019
The ETRO spin-off “Optrima-SoftKinetic Sensors” established in 2009, was sold in 2015 to SONY, and has meanwhile grown to 170-180 FTE, mainly high-tech employees. The image sensor technology developed within ETRO with 4 of Maarten Kuijk's PhD students was to provide 3D depth vision to robots and systems in general, in an alternative way.
These 3D time of flight sensors (3D-tof image sensors) are now “going places”, because they are standard built-in into about half of the high-end smartphones, to name a few,
• Huawei P30pro
• LG
• OPPO (Chinese market)
• Samsung Galaxy S10.
According to analysts, the iPhone will soon be next.
Sony Depthsensing Solutions is now also conducting LIDAR research for self-driving cars, and remains a stayer in the Brussels Region.
Daniel van Nieuwenhove, the first PhD student in 3D-tof research, is now CEO of this company.
