Meta often hosts “Inside the Lab” roundtables. This roundtable will introduce you to some of the early techniques that you are currently working on, usually in a very specific area of research.today In the lab: Passed the visual Turing test It focuses on the display, which is a very important part of the hardware of virtual reality (VR) headsets. To tackle a variety of challenges, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Reality Lab Chief Scientist, Michael Abrash, and several others have unveiled three prototype headsets currently under development.
Prototyping often relies on trying to solve a single problem, such as resolution, weight, size, durability, clarity, or other issues. Meta Quest 2 offers a great VR experience, but it’s never perfect because there are always areas for improvement.
Butterscotch
It’s most important to get the best possible image to the user’s eyes, and Meta is trying to solve it in a variety of ways. The first VR prototype shown was Butterscotch, which looks like a heavily modified Oculus Rift.
It was built to support VR resolutions, and more specifically, it provides retinal resolution in VR. With 60 pixels / degree (ppd) as the benchmark and what TVs and mobile phones have long surpassed, headsets can draw 20/20 lines on vision charts. “This is the latest in our prototype of retinal resolution, which is close to retinal resolution in VR — 55 pixels per degree, which is 2.5 times the resolution of Quest 2,” says Butterscotch’s Abrash. ..
This might seem like it was achieved with a new panel, but it wasn’t. “Currently, there is no display panel that supports a full field of view of a VR headset that is close to retinal resolution,” continues Abrash. “What the Butterscotch team has done is to reduce the field of view to about half that of the Quest 2 and develop a new hybrid lens that completely solves the higher resolutions.”
As you can see from the image above, butterscotch provides excellent transparency, but it’s far from the finished prototype, yet bulky.
Starburst
Starburst is even bigger and bulkier than butterscotch. Starburst, with a fan at the top and a pair of side handles, is a Reality Labs prototype HDR VR headset. Yes, you are reading that right, this is what the high dynamic range of a VR headset looks like now.
HDR is an important addition because it helps to enhance the presence and depth of your images. To use these VR headsets, you need a lot of light to play with the brightness called knit. Meta’s peak brightness target is 10,000 nits, but Samsung’s 65Q9 range could reach 2,000 nits in HDR, as TVs haven’t achieved this number yet, but that target is still far away. At the current VR level, Quest 2 is at its maximum at 100 nits.
The Starburst prototype is packed with bright lamps behind the LCD panel. This allows Starburst to reach an impressive 20,000 knits and create what appears to be one of the first 3D HDRVR displays. However, you probably don’t want to use it for a long time. [Starburst is] In this first generation, it’s not very practical for what you actually ship in the product. But we’re using it for testing and further research, so we can understand how the experience feels, “says Zuckerberg.
Holo cake 2
Prototypes for the last two headsets look years ahead, but what about those that look a bit ready for production? Zuckerberg describes it as “the thinnest and lightest VR headset I’ve ever made.” Holocake2 certainly looks like part of a futuristic device and can already run PCVR games.
This may be impressive on a prototype headset, but even more noteworthy is the Holocake 2’s thin profile. VR headsets are thick because the display and lens need to be separated by a certain distance so that the eyes can properly focus on the image. To achieve this slim design, Meta has developed two new technologies. Flat holographic lens and polarized reflection.
When it comes to holographic lenses, Zuckerberg explains: “A holographic is basically a record of what happens when light hits something. Therefore, the holographic optical system is modeled so that the holographic is much flatter than itself. It’s much flatter than a lens that does, but it affects incident light in much the same way, so it’s a pretty neat hack. “
For polarization reflection, this optical folding method reduces the space between the display panel and the lens. Both of these techniques are combined with a special laser as a light source rather than an LED. There is only one problem. It’s about finding the high-performance size and price lasers you need for consumer VR headsets. “To achieve a viable consumer laser that meets our specifications requires a lot of engineering, which fits in a safe, low-cost, efficient, slim VR headset.” Abrash said. “As of today, the jury is still working on finding a suitable laser source.”
If any of these prototypes look familiar, as Butterscotch and Holocake were teased by Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth in 2021. There are no signs of the aforementioned Metaquest prototype.
Mirror Lake
Finally, there is Mirror Lake. This is not even a prototype at this stage. Reality Labs’ Display Systems Research (DSR) team is just a buzzing research concept. This is the idea of Piin the Sky, where Reality Labs has devised a form factor like ski goggles that combines all the Varifocals (Half Dome) with eye tracking and other techniques.
Now you know all the prototype VR headsets Meta is currently revealing and the challenges they are trying to solve. Holocake 2 may be coming soon, but Meta’s next headset is Project Cambria, which will arrive later this year.Keep reading for continuous updates on the latest Meta VR devices gmw3..