Today, Meta shared (via The Verge) a few new details about Aria Gen 2, its next-generation experimental smart glasses.While they’re still not meant for consumers, the hardware show just how fast Meta is moving and how far ahead it is thinking when it comes to the future of wearables, AI, and spatial computing.It also signals how quickly Apple will have to work if it really intends to do more than simply try to catch up.
Again.Aria Gen 2 Designed as a research platform for augmented reality, AI, and robotics, Aria Gen 2 packs a full eye-tracking system that monitors “gaze per eye, vergence point, blink detection, pupil center estimation, pupil diameter, corneal center, etc.” It also features multiple computer vision cameras that enable 3D hand and object tracking, which Meta says is precise enough to train robotic hands.Interestingly, Apple has just published a study on this subject.
Inside the nosepad, there’s a PPG heart rate sensor (like the Apple Watch) and a contact microphone that improves audio capture in loud environments.And unlike the Aria Gen 1, the frame folds.It is also lighter than before, and available in eight sizes “accounting for a number of human factors including head breadth and nose bridge variation.” Other hardware includes: 12 MP RGB camera 7 spatial microphones Ambient light sensor Accelerometer and gyroscope Stereo speakers USB-C port Meta calls Aria Gen 2 a “testbed,” and it sure looks more like a pair of computer glasses, rather than just… glasses.
But it’s hard to look at this device and not foresee people wearing something like this in real life sooner rather than later.Open vs.private prototyping As Meta iterates in public (yes, with bulky, expensive and commercially unviable prototypes), Apple is reportedly aiming to enter this space by the end of next year.
Per ‘s Mark Gurman, Tim Cook is “hell-bent on creating an industry-leading product before Meta can.” Whether Apple will actually succeed in leapfrogging Meta and launch an industry-leading product remains to be seen.But much like with AI, Apple’s biggest challenge will be to move fast enough not to let cutting-edge tech become obsolete before (or rather, ) it finally hits the market. You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day.
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