Meta has detailed the tech within its Aria Gen 2 research glasses.
These follow on from the Aria glasses that launched in 2020, and are expected to be the basis for future models from the company.
Meta is responsible for some of the best – and most popular – smart glasses. That's largely thanks to its collaboration with Ray Ban, which has resulted in smart glasses people are actually happy to put on their faces.
The company has already revealed we will see more smart glasses launch before the end of the year though, and it has also announced the Aria Gen 2 research glasses, which will no doubt make up some of what we will see in future models.
Now a couple of months after the Aria 2 research glasses were announced, Meta has revealed a more in depth look at what they can offer, as well as the key differences to the Aria Gen 1 research glasses that were announced in 2020.
What will Meta's next smart glasses offer in terms of tech?
According to Meta, the Aria Gen 2 boast "superior wearability", weighing between 74g and 76g, whilst including folding arms and offering eight size variations.
The camera sensor has support for a higher dynamic range than the Aria Gen 1 and features double the computer vision cameras of its predecessor for a wider field of view and advanced 3D hand and object tracking. There's also a wider stereo overlap at 80-degrees compared to 35-degrees, offering better depth perception and spatial awareness.
There are new sensors on board too. The Aria Gen 2 glasses include an Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) that will unlock new capabilities at low frame rates, while the "ultraviolet mode can be used to distinguish between indoor and outdoor lighting".
There's also a contact microphone on the nosepad for better audio capture in noisy environments and a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor also embedded for heart rate estimation.
The glasses feature "advanced on-device machine perception algorithms that run on Meta’s energy-efficient custom coprocessor", Meta has also said.
These include Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO), which is their ability to track in "six degrees of freedom (6DOF) within a spatial frame of reference", allowing for "seamless navigation and mapping of the environment, opening up new possibilities for research in contextual AI and robotics".
There is also "an advanced camera-based eye tracking system that tracks the wearer’s gaze with unparalleled accuracy", as well as "a hand tracking solution that tracks the wearer’s hand in 3D space".
In all, there are huge improvements over the Aria Gen 1 so it will be interesting to see the first smart glasses these advancements are implemented within. Put all this tech into a pair of Wayfarers and we are game.
