Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the 2017 F8 Developer Conference in San Jose.
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
The planned smart glasses of Facebook Inc. will arrive “sooner rather than later” in 2021, but according to Andrew Bosworth, hardware chief, it will not contain the kind of digital coating technology that accompanies augmented reality.
The glasses, which are built in collaboration with Ray-Ban and older Luxottica Group SpA will connect to a device – although users can not lay digital objects on their actual view, a basic element of AR.
‘It’s definitely a pair of glasses, and it definitely offers a lot of functionality, [but] we are quite excited about the features we offer exactly, ‘Bosworth said. ‘We’re excited about it, but we do not want to hype it. We do not even call it augmented reality, we only call it ‘smart glasses”, he added.
Facebook first announced plans for AR glasses in 2017 and has since built a handful of camera features that enable people to project digital images onto the physical world, such as face-disturbing photo filters. The company has invested considerable resources in hardware development over the past few years, launching virtual reality Oculus and launching a home device by the name. Hall. According to a person familiar with the staff, Facebook’s VR, AR and hardware teams are responsible for more than 6,000 employees. This is a larger group than Facebook worked on billion-dollar user apps Instagram and WhatsApp.
Read more: Facebook, Ray-Ban work together to cool glasses
Smart glasses are part of a long-term effort within the company to capture the next major computer platform to the smartphone. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a big proponent of both AR and VR, although this first version of Facebook’s glasses will not offer the ultimate promise of an augmented reality, it is the ability to bring the digital and physical worlds through a lens to mix. Bosworth did not want to disclose the features for the upcoming glasses, but said it is in line with Facebook’s broader philosophy around AR, namely to make technology peripheral to human interactions to enhance the “presence”.
A common situation that Bosworth cited is that parents try to record memories with their young children: ‘By the time you get on the phone, not only have you missed it, but if you do not miss it, you’re probably watching it. the right event, but through your phone, ”he said. “If you have the right technology, it can get in the way.”
Facebook is the latest technology company that has tried to create smart glasses. Google from Alphabet Inc. was early in the category with Google Glass, which never got a consumer device but found a home as a tool for workers in warehouses and industrial settings. Snap Inc. has also launched several iterations of its smart glasses, called Spectacles, that allow people to take video recordings and transfer them to their phone. Apple Inc. also build some glasses.