Computer Vision Firm Leader, Sebastian Bauer, Discusses Role at Ubicept in Exclusive Interview

Ubicept, a pioneering company in the field of single-photon perception, is set to advance its main products and achieve its set goals in 2026. While the specific priorities for the year remain undisclosed, the focus is likely on further development and growth.

At the heart of Ubicept's offerings is the FLARE (Flexible Light Acquisition and Representation Engine) development camera. This innovative device boasts a 1-megapixel color SPAD camera sensor, a partnership product with a hardware partner.

Ubicept's core product, however, lies in its algorithms. These sophisticated algorithms transform gigabytes or terabytes of single photon detections into conventional video output. Remarkably, they run efficiently on off-the-shelf compute hardware and perform exceptionally well with conventional sensors, although they are best suited for single-photon image sensor hardware.

Looking ahead, Ubicept sees the future of its technology in single-photon perception. Major sensor manufacturers are seriously considering this technology, with the first products already available. The company distinguishes itself from its competitors due to its research background and early access to single-photon sensors.

Since its launch, Ubicept's technology has undergone significant evolution. Improvements in quality and runtime have reached up to 1,000,000 times. The journey to bring this technology to fruition has not been without challenges. Sebastian Bauer, co-founder and CEO of Ubicept, likens it to building and flying an airplane simultaneously.

Despite the challenges, potential customers are buying into Ubicept's vision. They believe that single-photon perception will be the future of imaging. Ubicept's primary goal is to get its processing algorithms on as many cameras as possible.

The idea for Ubicept took shape during Bauer's time at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, he and his team researched Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) and realized that the SPAD hardware required for their imaging could be manufactured cheaply for consumer devices.

One of Ubicept's most significant milestones was the introduction of the FLARE camera at CES in January 2025, which enabled 1-megapixel single-photon sensing. Bauer finds the whole story of Ubicept's work extremely interesting and exciting, as they are working on a technology that can generate data from new image sensors. When processed in the Ubicept way, this allows for a camera that can see in all environments, especially low light/very bright light/fast motion.

Ubicept is currently in the seed stage of funding, with more funding expected soon. Sebastian Bauer, with a background in engineering and a focus on processing exotic types of images, including hyperspectral imaging and seeing around corners, leads the team. The company was spun out from UW-Madison and MIT, with a few colleagues joining the team.

For configurations where SPADs are synchronized with active lighting like lasers and LEDs, Ubicept has algorithms to make the resulting system see through fog or dust and detect moving objects like pedestrians behind obstacles. The future of Ubicept promises to be exciting as they continue to push the boundaries of single-photon perception technology.

Computer Vision Firm Leader, Sebastian Bauer, Discusses Role at Ubicept in Exclusive Interview