Facebook has revealed off a brand-new proof-of-concept virtual reality headset, and it has an entirely different design than a lot of other VR gadgets on the marketplace today. Rather of a large device that conceals the leading half of your face and has actually to be strapped to your head, this proof-of-concept headset looks type of like a set of big sunglasses that can sit conveniently on your ears.
Yet Facebook is billing this new device as not a set of enhanced reality glasses, as typical conceptions of AR devices go, but a genuine VR product. Theyre really thin, with a screen density of less than 9mm, and Facebook declares they have a field of vision thats “comparable to todays customer VR products.” Heres a top-down view:
The proof-of-concept headset likewise uses a strategy Facebook calls “polarization-based optical folding” to help in reducing the amount of area in between the actual display and the lens that focuses the image. With polarization-based optical folding, “light can be managed to move both forward and backwards within the lens so that this void can be passed through multiple times, collapsing it to a fraction of the original volume.”
The proof-of-concept glasses arent simply thin for appearances, though– they also apparently beam images to your eyes in a way thats various than standard VR headsets on the market today. Ill let Facebooks research study group explain one of those methods, called “holographic optics:”
Image: Facebook
Many VR display screens share a common watching optic: a basic refractive lens composed of a thick, curved piece or glass or plastic. We propose changing this bulky element with holographic optics. You may recognize with holographic images seen at a science museum or on your credit card, which appear to be three-dimensional with reasonable depth in or out of the page. Like these holographic images, our holographic optics are a recording of the interaction of laser light with things, however in this case the object is a lens instead of a 3D scene. The outcome is a remarkable reduction in thickness and weight: The holographic optic bends light like a lens however appears like a thin, transparent sticker.
This GIF from Facebook assists envision how both techniques work together:
These glasses are simply a proof-of-concept, however, so its uncertain if theyll ever concern market. “While it points towards the future advancement of lightweight, comfortable, and high-performance AR/VR innovation, at present our work is simply research study,” Facebooks research team composes in its post.
Many companies are circling around the concept of glasses-like AR/VR headsets that integrate the very best of both technologies into a single gadget, but it generally ends up as a bulkier VR-centric headset that uses outward-facing cameras to likewise perform light AR. Intel and Microsoft, both of which utilize the expression combined truth to describe devices like the HoloLens, have actually been buying this concept for a long time.
Facebook is billing this brand-new gadget as not a pair of enhanced truth glasses, as typical conceptions of AR devices go, however a genuine VR item. Most VR display screens share a typical watching optic: a basic refractive lens made up of a thick, curved piece or glass or plastic. Like these holographic images, our holographic optics are a recording of the interaction of laser light with objects, however in this case the item is a lens rather than a 3D scene. The outcome is a remarkable reduction in thickness and weight: The holographic optic bends light like a lens but looks like a thin, transparent sticker.
More companies are now working behind-the-scenes to make a smaller, truly hybrid device a truth. Apple has supposedly been dealing with something like this for many years, and Google just today purchased AR glasses business North, an acquisition that might enable the company to revive its imagine a consumer Google Glass-style heads-up screen.
While we cant make certain if any of the tech giants will release combination AR/VR glasses, the proof-of-concept Facebook is displaying could use a glance at what such a device may appear like at some point in the future.
If you want to find out more about Facebooks proof-of-concept, examine out this whitepaper from Andrew Maimone and Junren Wang on the Facebook Reality Labs group.
