Future Optek CEO Matthew Pohl is building mixed-reality glasses designed to let a shooter see an aiming point without looking directly through a traditional optic.
In an interview with Military.com at eMerge Americas, Pohl described the company’s core concept as glasses that display a reticle, or red dot, inside transparent lenses while accounting for the position of the user’s head and weapon. The goal is to let a user see where the weapon is pointed without forcing the shooter to align their eye behind a sight, look through a video feed, or use a laser that could reveal their position.
“It’s accounting for where your head and its orientation are and where your hand or the weapon is,” Pohl said. “If I were to aim, I would see the dot. And if I were to start to move the firearm, I’d see that dot move.”
Future Optek is a small, Boca Raton-based startup that Pohl founded after previously building two other companies. It develops augmented reality devices, mixed reality devices, wearable technology, and networking tools. Its RedEye system is designed to make aiming more intuitive through augmented reality glasses that project a reticle into the user’s field of view, and the company has received two patents related to its technology.
Why Form Factor Matters
Pohl was careful to distinguish Future Optek’s system from camera-based goggles or bulky battlefield headsets. He said the company’s approach uses transparent lenses rather than replacing the user’s vision with a video feed. Pohl said this matters because soldiers need natural vision, situational awareness, and a device light enough to wear in real conditions.
The point connects to broader problems the Army has faced with augmented reality equipment. Earlier versions of the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, drew criticism after soldiers reported headaches, nausea and eyestrain during testing. Soldiers using the Microsoft-based mixed reality goggles suffered “mission-affecting physical impairments,” and that 80% of those who experienced discomfort reported symptoms developed after less than three hours.
Pohl said Future Optek is not trying to replace every part of a soldier-worn augmented reality system. Instead, he described the company’s work as focused on the fire-control and aiming layer, where a simpler display could help solve a narrower but important problem.
“We really succeeded in designing this in a way that makes sense for a soldier’s situational awareness and prioritizing what they should be focusing on,” Pohl said.
A Startup in a Changing Army Market
Future Optek is entering the defense technology market as the Army reworks its soldier-worn mixed reality efforts. Anduril announced in 2025 that it had been awarded work tied to Soldier Borne Mission Command-Architecture, a program linked to the future of the Army’s mixed reality and mission command systems.
In September 2025, the Army awarded more than $350 million in contracts for Soldier Borne Mission Command prototypes, including awards to Anduril and Rivet for soldier-worn headsets with augmented reality, night vision and AI capabilities.
Pohl said Future Optek’s advantage is integration simplicity. He said the company’s early system used inertial measurement units on the glasses and weapon, the same basic class of sensor that helps a phone understand its orientation. He also emphasized cost and compactness, saying the company has tried to avoid approaches that depend on GPS, cameras, or expensive hardware.
From Individual Shooters to Human-Machine Teaming
Pohl said the same basic concept could extend beyond individual firearms. He described potential applications for remote weapon stations, drones, and ground robots because the system creates a shared coordinate logic between a human, a weapon, and a machine. In plain terms, the system can help translate where a person is pointing into something a robotic system can understand.
That is why Pohl connected Future Optek’s work to manned-unmanned teaming, a growing focus across the Defense Department as troops operate alongside drones, robotic ground vehicles, and autonomous systems.
Pohl also pointed to tactical situations where traditional aiming methods become awkward or dangerous. A soldier behind cover, inside a vehicle, or firing from an unconventional position may not be able to properly align with an optic. Lasers can solve some aiming problems, but Pohl noted that they create a visible signature and are not a universal answer.
That is the niche Future Optek is trying to fill: not a full helmet replacement, not a video-game overlay, and not a laser. It is a lightweight aiming layer meant to preserve natural vision while giving soldiers, vehicles or robots a faster way to understand where a weapon is oriented.
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