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Full-body avatars and teleporting AR glasses: Facebook division lays out vision for VR and AR


From fully-body avatars to 3D real-world environments to teleporting AR glasses –Facebook Reality Labs has laid out its vision to bring all these to life. 

The research division’s lead, Michael Abrash, stood in front large crowd at the Oculus Connect 6 event and announced it is working to combine VR and AR in order to create a social presence.

Users will have the ability to share the same space with someone else, express their emotions in real-time and use AR glasses to go anywhere in the world while on the go.

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From fully-body avatars to 3D real-world environments (pictured) to teleporting AR glasses --Facebook Reality Labs has laid out its vision to bring all these to life

From fully-body avatars to 3D real-world environments (pictured) to teleporting AR glasses –Facebook Reality Labs has laid out its vision to bring all these to life

‘Virtual reality (VR) today lets us explore digitally created worlds and interact with friends, while augmented reality (AR) lets us create and share new experiences, primarily through our mobile phones, Facebook Reality Lab shared in a statement.

‘Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) researchers are pushing the state of the art forward in both VR and AR.’

VR AND AR VISION 

Facebook Reality Labs revealed its plans for making VR and AR bigger and better.

It revealed technology for full-body avatars that can express body language to help users better understand the other person’s emotions.

It has also created 3D real-world environments that allows two people to enjoy together.

The firm also touched on AR glasses that could  teleport users on the go. 

These glasses would use LiveMaps to find a destination or view real world information. 

‘This work will ultimately help us seamlessly overlay virtual objects on top of the real world and enhance our experience of daily life.’

In March, the research division released a serious of videos displaying lifelike floating heads called ‘Codec Avatars’.

This technology allowed users to virtually converse with one another, as their real facial expressions were replicated on VR faces in second-by-second detail.

Facebook said the project could one day ease the loneliness of long-distance family members, friendships or relationships by simulating what it feels like to be in the same room – and the firm is getting closer to making this happen.

Now, the technology is able to measure facial expressions in real-time, as well as produce a full-body avatar, as the firm noted, ‘body language is critical to our ability to communicate’.

‘While you won’t find this technology in a consumer product anytime soon, we imagine a future where people will be able to create ultra-realistic avatars of themselves with just a few quick snaps of their phone cameras and animate them via their headsets,’ Facebook Reality Labs shared.

‘And that future will usher in a new wave of fully immersive VR.’

In addition to creating lifelike avatars, Facebook Reality Labs is putting its efforts towards creating 3D models of real-world environments.

At the event, techniques were shown that create an environment where two people can be co-present with their avatars.

The technology is able to measure facial expressions in real-time, as well as produce a full-body avatar (pictured), as the firm noted, 'body language is critical to our ability to communicate'

The technology is able to measure facial expressions in real-time, as well as produce a full-body avatar (pictured), as the firm noted, ‘body language is critical to our ability to communicate’

And this is one of the first technology in history that has allowed for this to happen.

‘Through a combination of a high-accuracy depth capture system, state-of-the-art simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology, a cutting-edge camera rig, and a dense reconstruction system, we’re able to achieve a level of fidelity that’s unprecedented in VR,’ the research division stated.

Users can view their reflection in mirrors hanging on the wall and see the texture of the rugs on the floor with great detail.

The team has also suggested their technology could lead to cutting-edge AR glasses that have the ability to ‘teleport while you’re on the go’. 

And this is where LiveMaps will come in hand.

Using machine vision alongside localization and mapping technology, LiveMaps will create a shared virtual map that lets users choose their destinations.

The avatars can be designed to look just like its users and be immersed in a virtual world

 The avatars can be designed to look just like its users and be immersed in a virtual world

In addition to teleportation, LiveMaps will one day allow you to search and share real-time information about the physical world.

You could see exactly where a store is or view the movie times on a theater marque.

‘Virtual reality lets us immerse ourselves in digital content, giving us the power to defy distance and physics while inventing and inhabiting new worlds,’ Facebook Reality Labs stated. 

‘Augmented reality takes virtual objects and adds them to our perception of the real world for an enhanced experience of the everyday.’ 

‘Taken together, these technologies stand to reinvent the way we connect with the world around us — and with each other.



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