Facebook founder and owner of Oculus Research lab in Redmond, Washington, Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled the prototype of an innovation that would make it possible for individuals to type in virtual reality.
He said it demonstrates the company’s relentlessness in pushing the boundaries of virtual and augmented reality.
“The team is led by Michael Abrash and focuses on things like advanced optics, eye tracking, mixed reality and new ways to map the human body. The goal is to make VR and AR what we all want it to be: glasses small enough to take anywhere, software that lets you experience anything, and technology that lets you interact with the virtual world just like you do with the physical one,” Zuckerberg said.
Oculus Rift is already the best VR experience you can buy — and the technology being built in this lab right now makes me want the future to get here a lot sooner.
The gloves enable users to fingerpaint, act like a super hero, and even type in virtual reality. Oculus already has its Touch controllers that are great for wielding virtual guns or picking up digital objects, but yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed a new prototype for VR gloves in photos from his tour of the Redmond, Washington Oculus Research.
Zuckerberg writes, “We’re working on new ways to bring your hands in virtual and augmented reality. Wearing these gloves, you can draw, type on a virtual keyboard, and even shoot webs like Spider-Man. That’s what I’m doing here.”
TechCrunch reported that the gloves have a slim form-factor. Notably, the rig appears to employ OptiTrack Prime 17W cameras to sense the gloves’ position, rather than an Oculus-built sensor system. This could allow Oculus to more rapidly test the gloves at a lower cost than if it tried to build the cameras too.
Oculus previously acquired hand-tracking startup Pebbles Interfaces, which was developing technology that could aid in the creation of VR gloves.
Gloves could help Oculus realize the dream of true presence in VR, where there’s nothing to remind you that you aren’t actually in a fantasy world.
