The social media giant is poised to experiment with augmented reality technology in the next few years
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that the company is working on augmented reality technology. Speaking at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, he said that it is "a bit farther out" in the scheme of Facebook’s future developments.
Facebook has made considerable progress in the field of virtual reality technology, since acquiring Oculus last year. It is, but a logical step for it to explore the possibilities that augmented reality can offer. Chief Scientist at Oculus, Michael Abrash said, “It’s very interesting; it’s something we’d all use if it worked well.” He further said, “It’s kind of seamless. Maybe it’ll be contacts [or glasses]. You’ll have something on and it’ll be VR and AR as you choose. But right now the VR tech is past the knee of the curve. For AR, it’s harder. There are a whole host of challenges — how you do the optics and displays and get photos onto the eyes, how you have something that’s socially acceptable and comfortable all day. I think VR is here now, I think AR will be here, but it’s a long road to get there.”
Almost all major tech companies are dabbling with VR technology, which is tipped to gain wider acceptance in the next few years. In comparison, augmented reality is still some paces behind it, in terms of technological advancement. It can be partly attributed to the majority of the investment being made on VR technology. Social acceptance of AR devices is another limiting factor, as is evident from the Google Glass’ first outing.
Facebook recently added support for 360-degree videos, which is indicative of its intention to integrate VR technologies with its other software products. Speaking about the technology, Zuckerberg said, “Certainly this more immersive content will be an increasing portion of what gets shared. But another part of the beauty of Internet communication is it’s asynchronous. [But there will be] use cases where you can be in person with someone, doing surgery remotely, that you very much need to be synchronous.” Augmented reality, therefore seems like the next logical step for Facebook. By its very definition, AR will enrich the user’s vision and perception of the world, providing newer experiences and increasing productivity.
Source: Techcrunch
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