Are you working on another XR headset following the Meta Quest 3? Just as the leading immersive technology company has begun releasing its latest MR headsets and Ray Ban Smartglasses, it appears that Meta’s diverse lineup of XR engineers are working on the next phase of their headset lineup.
Currently, Meta is seeing a surge in orders for MR headsets during the holiday Black Friday period. Recently, at a speaker session at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, CEO Meta Douglas Lanman, Director of Display Systems Research, Reality Labs His company claimed to have developed a prototype device called Mirror Lake that improves immersion. Lanman claims that the proposed innovative MR headset is buildable with today’s resources.
Lanman revealed a 3D rendering of a Mirror Lake device in action during a session covering the “visual Turing test,” which explains how to create an XR visual display that is indistinguishable from the real thing.
Douglas Lanman added:
We are doing well. We have continued to focus on all of these issues. How close are you to passing the (visual) turning test? Probably not that close. This is a grand dream. With dozens of prototypes, we will eventually get there. But we are getting closer. Here’s a rendering (the Mirror Lake prototype) of a device we had a few years ago that we felt was practical to build now. It uses holocakes (lenses), uses multi-view eye tracking, uses backpass, and uses existing hardware components. – I think the industry is ready to move to another plateau.
Mirror Lake appears to be attempting to solve one of the main problems with XR headsets on the business side: the size, weight, and intrusive form factor of many headsets. Smart glasses, in particular, seek to solve this same problem. However, to access greater computing power, headset vendors must find ways to improve the wearability and usability of VR/MR headsets to ensure realistic frontline use in environments such as factory floors.
Mirror Lake could potentially offer a lighter form factor, aligning with Meta’s reinvigorated focus on designing affordable workplace XR hardware and industrial Metaverse software.
Mirror Lake devices, on the other hand, specifically include a reverse pass-through camera that provides multiple eye tracking capabilities and allows third parties to see the Mirror Lake operator’s eyes when wearing the device.
Additionally, a redundant pass-through camera will allow Meta to take a direct shot at its soon-to-be market competitor, Apple. The company is offering the same pre-pass feature for its upcoming Vision Pro devices.
Meta has yet to release Vision Pro style features on any of its available headsets, but it proves that Meta is taking notice of Apple’s unique approach to the XR headset industry and is applying innovations from others to the Meta XR portfolio. However, Lanman explained that the Mirror Lake design had been in the prototype stage “a few years ago.” So the similarities with the Vision Pro may be coincidental.
Another Mirror Lake innovation mentioned by Douglas Lanman was the holocake lens, a new display technology that follows Meta’s pancake lens. Holocake lenses improve XR headset accessibility by providing integrated support for people who need to wear prescription glasses.
2024: What’s next for Meta?
The 2023 meta approaches with new strength compared to the beginning of the year. 2023 began with skepticism. meta Mark Zuckerberg CEO, It faced criticism after promising an expansive metaverse. While some experts have felt frustrated by the underutilized consumer Metaverse, the company is now joining large enterprise solution providers like Microsoft and AWS to offer XR solutions for businesses.
Nick Clegg, President of Global Operations at Meta He recently posted a video on his social media promoting the use of XR to his corporate and education clients.
In a promotional video, Clegg highlighted the potential of Metaverse’s technology to transform the way we work and learn, and outlined how European companies are leveraging AR and VR to advance industries and improve people’s lives.
Clegg also added:
European business leaders such as Lufthansa, Iveco, Alstorm, and Decathlon are already using immersive technologies to develop products, train employees, and engage customers. – Other fields, such as virtual medicine, are using Metaverse technology in groundbreaking ways to support healthcare professionals, educators, and students in fully immersive digital environments. The effects of the metaverse are real, and they are happening right now. – As metaverse technology continues to develop, more and more opportunities will open up.
In the promotional video, Clegg also emphasized the importance of laying the foundation for the future industrial metaverse based on emerging talent pools, expanding knowledge base, and exposure.
Clegg explained that the impact of XR programs will grow as more developers build them and more educational institutions and enterprises use them. He also noted that as immersive technologies mature and advance, they will be able to foster the sharing of ideas across different cultures, break down social and economic barriers, and create more opportunities for European businesses.
Additionally, Meta’s consumer-centric goal is to build the building blocks for workplace XR adoption by introducing multiple devices into the home during the holiday season. As headsets become more ubiquitous in everyday life through improved optics and familiarity, XR technology will no longer seem overwhelming or difficult to understand when presented to workplace decision-makers. This is similar to how smartphones dominated the consumer market before gaining prominence as a workplace tool. .
Meta for today’s business
Meta Quest for Business has officially launched following a series of reveals this year. XR Device Management and Deployment Hub is an enterprise-grade platform that offers subscription services to support enterprise end users utilizing Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro devices.
Meta Quest for Business also helps clients deploy devices and applications across their teams. The service is now available to enterprise end users in supported regions, including the US and UK. Meta also offers sharing mode and Support Plus as add-ons to its service and offers a 30-day trial for potential customers.
Additionally, for customers who purchase the shared mode feature, Meta Quest for Business does not require employees to have a Meta account when they join, addressing long-standing concerns about Meta’s entry into the digital business solutions landscape. The launch comes as a partial overhaul following the company’s previous offering of a VR headset subscription service for businesses closer to the Oculus era.
Meta recently revamped its enterprise product line after Quest Pro received a less than enthusiastic reception. Like Microsoft, Meta is now focused on creating the foundation of the industrial Metaverse with immersive solutions that will shape the future of work.
Lecture on the future of immersive services in the workplace, Meta’s Engaged Global Executive, Reality Labs, Dan NievesEarlier this year, we took the stage at IGS 2023 to discuss our then-launching Quest for Business solutions.
Nieves explained:
Metaverse technology and AI are truly changing the way we experience the physical and digital worlds. Clearly, thinking about this moment, it will always be the most enriching way for all of us to be in the same room and together in the physical world. – But increasingly, team members are becoming dispersed and dispersed. So it is actually the combination of the physical and digital worlds that defines our reality.
According to Dan Nieves, companies are leveraging technologies like VR and MR to create new opportunities that can benefit society. Nieves added that businesses can leverage a wide range of XR use cases, especially in areas such as education, healthcare, and workplace collaboration. Many organizations are already starting to see real benefits from these technologies.