Manifest Technologies is rewriting the rules of lens manufacturing

Manifest Technologies is rewriting the rules of lens manufacturing

• September 8, 2026

Via the Rochester Business Journal

When consumers picture the future of wearable technology, they often imagine sleek augmented reality glasses that look no different than standard prescription eyewear. Yet behind that seamless vision lies a massive manufacturing roadblock. Today's smart devices require dozens of microscopic lenses, electronic sensors, and mechanical mounts, all of which must be individually molded, aligned, glued, and assembled by hand or custom machinery.

For manufacturers, this multi-step assembly process is slow, expensive, and creates endless opportunities for defects. Traditional techniques like glass casting or diamond turning were developed decades ago for simple, standalone lenses. Trying to cram modern electronic features into a wafer-thin smart lens using old factory rules has pushed conventional manufacturing to its physical limits.

Rethinking how optics are made

Manifest Technologies was founded to eliminate this assembly roadblock. Spun out of the University of Colorado Boulder in 2022, the startup was built on groundbreaking research led by co-founder and CEO Camila Uzcategui, PhD, alongside Chief Technology Officer Johnny Hergert, PhD, and Chief Scientist Robert R. McLeod, PhD.

Rather than trying to solve the challenge by acting as just another 3D printing vendor, Manifest has invented an advanced manufacturing platform called Parallax Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (P-VAM). Where traditional 3D printers build parts slowly, layer by layer, which leaves microscopic ridges that scatter light and destroy optical clarity, Manifest's technology takes a fundamentally different approach. It projects intersecting patterns of light into a cartridge filled with liquid polymer, solidifying an entire, three-dimensional object all at once.

Because the component forms in 3D volume without layers, seams, or joints, the resulting lens is optically smooth and crystal clear. Crucially, P-VAM allows engineers to form lenses directly onto existing glass, plastic, or metal surfaces while embedding electronic components and mechanical mounts directly inside the lens during creation. This eliminates the need for separate parts and glues.

"Additive manufacturing had enormous potential, but for a long time it was trapped in prototyping rather than true production," explains Dr. Uzcategui. "We developed P-VAM to build complex parts with unprecedented speed and design freedom. Instead of fabricating ten different components and gluing them together, we can form a fully integrated, functional lens in a single manufacturing step."

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