Introduction to Meta Orion Glasses
Meta’s Orion glasses are still quite bulky and depend on two other pieces of kit: a wireless compute puck and an electromyography (EMG) wristband. The puck, which needs to remain near the glasses, is used for connectivity and processing, while the wristband permits you to control the AR interface with hand gestures. The glasses themselves are a bit wider than a typical face and have a 70-degree field of view, making them more immersive than other AR devices in the marketplace.
How Orion Works
You control Orion’s interface through a mixture of eye tracking and gestures. After a fast calibration, you possibly can navigate the AR apps and menus by glancing across the interface and tapping your thumb and index finger together. The EMG wristband uses sensors to detect the electrical signals that occur with even subtle movements of your wrist and fingers, and Meta uses machine learning to decode those signals and send them to the glasses. This combination of quick gestures and eye tracking feels rather more precise than hand-tracking controls utilized in VR.
What it’s Like to Use Orion
Meta walked me through several demos to point out off Orion’s capabilities. I used Meta AI to generate a picture and give you recipes based on ingredients on a shelf in front of me. I also answered video calls, watched a YouTube video, and dictated a response to an incoming message. The magic of AR is that all the things you see is overlaid onto the world around you, and your surroundings are all the time fully visible. I particularly appreciated this when playing a game called Stargazer, where I controlled a retro-looking spacecraft by moving my head to avoid obstacles while shooting enemies with finger tap gestures.
Technical Specifications
Orion’s displays depend on silicon carbide lenses, micro-LED projectors, and waveguides. The actual lenses are clear but can dim depending in your environment. One of essentially the most impressive elements is the 70-degree field of view, which is noticeably wider and more immersive than what I experienced with Snap’s AR Spectacles. However, the resolution of Orion’s visuals was barely disappointing, with 13 pixels per degree making colours seem muted and projected text fuzzy.
Future Developments
Meta’s VP of Wearable Devices, Ming Hua, said that certainly one of the corporate’s top priorities is to extend the brightness and backbone of Orion’s displays. A version of the prototype with twice the pixel density is already in development, and there is good reason to consider this may improve over time. Hua can also be optimistic that Meta will eventually have the option to bring down the prices of its AR tech, reducing it to something just like a high-end phone.
Conclusion
Leaving my demo at Meta’s headquarters, I used to be reminded of the potential of AR to alter the way in which we interact with technology. Orion has the potential to be much greater than simply a brand new form factor for mixed reality hobbyists and gamers. It offers a glimpse into how Meta views the longer term and what our lives might seem like after we’re now not tethered to our phones. While there’s still numerous work to be done, the prototype shows that this vision is closer than we expect. With its immersive 70-degree field of view, precise gesture controls, and potential for future developments, Orion is an exciting step towards a future where AR is part of our each day lives.
