Facebook hasrebranded itself to Meta, and is fully committed to building a metaverse.
To achieve its grand vision, itll need to launch multiple groundbreaking devices, controllers, and supporting hardware.
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To achieve this, Metas engineers have placed newly designed soft actuators.
The gloves also have a microfluid chip to control airflow to move these actuators.
Project Cambria
One of the key pieces of stepping into the metaverse is a headset.
The new headset, codenamed Project Cambria, will be a high-end rig with a matching price tag.
Mark Zuckerberg said last month thatthe firm plans to unveil this headset next year.
So thankfully, we dont have to wait for long.
ReSkin
Metas efforts are not just about making us feel objects in the virtual world.
Its also working on making robots feel through artificial skin.
ReSkin is capable of detecting forces as low as 0.1 newtons from objects that are 1mm wide.
This makes it an ideal material for robot hands, tactile gloves, or arm sleeves.
This makes it easier to replace faulty or worn-out patches.
you’re free to read technical details about ReSkinhere.
Apart from glasses, you will also need some kind of controller to interact with objects in AR.
In March, Meta showed off wrist-based bands that detect hand movements.
Initially, this tech will detect gestures such as pinching of fingers and releasing them.
The company claimed that the tech could detect signals even when your fingers have moved a millimeter.
That could be useful to develop an algorithm that works just on the intention of the movement.
For Bellowband, it used eight pneumatic bellows to control the air within them and generate haptic sensations.
On the other hand, Tasbi uses six vibrotactile actuators and a unique wrist squeeze mechanism.
Meta tested these bands with different scenarios such as pressing virtual buttons or feeling the texture of different surfaces.
Last year, it unveiled its wearable glasses under the codename Project Aria.
This year, we got to know more about this sensor platform, thanks to a report by Protocol.
These glasses dont have any head-mounted display.
So, no Google Glass key in action or AR effects.
In terms of sensors, it has our cameras and three buttons for power, capture, and mute.
At best, this looks like a Snap Spectacles competitor.
Whats next
For now, this is all we know about Metas machine strategy for the metaverse.
The company dedicated a fund of $10 billion earlier this year to develop metaverse hardware and software.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.”
