Mark Zuckerberg introduced Meta Quest Pro, the first in a new range of sophisticated headsets designed for collaboration, creativity, and productivity.
At Meta Connect, Zuckerberg joined leaders from Meta Reality Labs and a few special guests to display their work in making the metaverse a reality. Meta officials emphasised Meta Quest 2’s great success, described how virtual reality is becoming more sociable, and exhibited innovations for health, gaming, and work.
Meta Quest Pro was unveiled at the event, a game-changing device that brings the physical and digital worlds closer together.
Meta recently revealed few information regarding the future VR gadget, Project Cambria. Now, Meta has dropped the codename in favour of Meta Quest Pro.
The Meta Quest Pro is the first in a new line of powerful headsets designed to broaden the capabilities of virtual and mixed reality. Its pancake lenses bend light over many times, lowering headset size while providing crisper views. A redesigned, curved battery on the rear contributes to Meta Quest Pro being a more balanced and ergonomic headset in general.
Meta Quest Pro is Meta’s first full-colour mixed reality gadget, thanks to high-resolution outward-facing cameras that collect 4X as many pixels as Meta Quest 2.
According to Meta, it’s also the first headset with inward-facing sensors to record natural face emotions and eye tracking.
Meta has regarded the breakthrough as a significant step towards attaining the metaverse’s promise.
New Partnership to Advance the Future of Work
Meta Quest Pro was created with productivity in mind and will be a significant advance for individuals who use virtual reality as a tool for work, but hardware is only one component of the equation. Meta stated that they are equally committed to developing and supporting software that enhances the way you operate.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella joined Zuckerberg in announcing a new collaboration that will bring powerful new work and productivity tools to Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 next year, including apps for Microsoft Windows 365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as the ability to join a Teams meeting from within Meta Horizon Workrooms.
New Social Experiences in VR and Beyond
According to Meta, when Meta Quest 2 was released two years ago, most people’s time in VR was spent alone. The majority of time is now spent on multiplayer and social apps.
Meta announced it’s developing Meta Horizon Worlds on the web so you can eventually pick up your phone or laptop and visit friends hanging out in VR, and vice versa. Along with this is the announcement of new social innovations we’re working on with the YouTube VR team.
Meta previewed its next generation of Meta Avatars, which will be more expressive and detailed — as well as full-body avatars in VR, which will begin in Meta Horizon Worlds. Aside from VR, Meta is introducing avatars to video chat, beginning with Messenger and WhatsApp, so users can express themselves and react without turning on their camera.
Reality Labs Research Updates
Aside from what Meta recently presented, it also shared research updates on the underlying technologies for future devices and the metaverse, such as:
- Meta’s approach is to produce more intuitive, human-centred interfaces by combining artificial intelligence and electromyography;
- The collaboration of Project Aria and Meta with Carnegie Mellon University to assist people with vision impairments in better navigating their surroundings indoors;
- In the metaverse, two technologies are used to create and modify 3D objects: neural radiance fields and inverse rendering; and
- Photorealistic Codec Avatars with more complex facial emotions and Instant Codec Avatars are quicker and easier to create.
Meta is developing a new computing platform with Reality Labs centred on people, connections, and meaningful interactions.
