New Technologies of The Future, Meta-Universe by Microsoft and Facebook

 

Ready player one, vividly depicts what tech giants like facebook and microsoft predict will soon replace the internet. In the film the hero instead of a Dystopian reality is immersed in a dazzling virtual universe called OASIS. In reality tech company executives call it a meta universe. What it is and when we will live in it?? We will tell you in today's article.

The meta universe will be a huge public cyberspace combining augmented reality and virtual reality allowing avatars to seamlessly move from one location to another. It will be open to all like the internet only here you will be physically present not just looking at a screen. The company claiming the lion's share of the meta world is facebook.

As mark zuckerberg recently said the goal is to fill this virtual world by enticing new users with cheap headsets. Eventually, this robust user base will prove to be an advertising boon multiplying the size of the digital economy and facebook has already come close to that vision.

First off, it has created the world's most popular VR Headset Oculus. The latest version of the oculus quest 2 headset was recently updated with a silicone foam coating to prevent skin irritation and to replace 64 gigabytes of internal memory with 128 gigabytes. Also this will not affect the price of the gadget, it's going to remain at $299.

Oculus quest 2 is an impressive headset without any cables a clear display, powerful processors and precise motion tracking. The only drawback is the short battery life no more than three hours before you need to recharge, but the area of the gaming zone in the gadget from facebook is the largest 15 by 15 meters and there's an opportunity to add your virtual world tables and sofas standing in the room.

So as to not trip over them, the developers also talk about security zone intrusion detection, so soon the gadget will be able to report the hand that appeared nearby or past the boundary of the children's car from which you can get an injury.

Facebook reality labs recently unveiled a new prototype vr headset with an external screen that will allow other VR users or observers to see the eyes and faces of the person inside the VR Headset. Oculus quest virtual reality helmets have a see-through feature, but people nearby can't know when the user turns it on.

The new glasses will ensure the headset wearer's eye contact with others and make it easier for the user to communicate with someone nearby. In doing so the device uses a gaze tracking feature that is applied to A 3D model of the user's face and then displayed in processed form on the screens.

But facebook is going further and creating social spaces in VR. The first example is horizon workrooms. There the user is immersed in a kind of electronic game using an oculus quest 2 virtual reality headset. They can appear in a conference room accommodating up to 16 3D characters with a room size of up to 50 people where they all can participate in a video conference using simple webcams.

Here you can customize your avatar's appearance use your computer's desktop, keyboard and mouse move your arms and head and even right on virtual whiteboards to discuss something with the team. But facebook isn't the only company investing billions of dollars in creating a meta universe.

In may microsoft said it was uniquely positioned with a suite of artificial intelligence and mixed reality tools to help companies start developing meta-universe applications today. However so far the company has not even managed to develop virtual reality glasses for the general consumer preferring to concentrate on military orders where the cost is not so important.

Sony is also developing its PSVR2 virtual reality headset for the playstation 5. So far it's known that the gadget will be a pair of oled screens with a resolution of two thousand by twenty forty pixels each. It's also stated that the angle of view will be 110 degrees and there will be support for HDR.

The headset will track the direction of the user's eyes and draw a more detailed picture there which will reduce the load on the gpu. There's also going to be some haptic technology designed to reduce the feeling of motion sickness. New controllers will get captive touch sensors in addition to adaptive triggers.

But the tech giants aren't the only players in the race for a virtual future. The Singapore-Based company Mega Dodo Simulation Games has unveiled an ambitious plan to release Deca Gear, the virtual reality computer glasses.

The device should get 2160 by 2160 resolution per eye, inter-pupil distance lens adjustment, face tracking with two inward-facing cameras, controllers that understand hand pressure and finger movements, modules for hip tracking, integrated tracking based on four cameras and full steam vr content support, all for just $459. 

But the best part is that the company plans to have an SDK with the ability to seamlessly video chat or chat and move between games without going into some kind of shared space like the main menu.

With all of that said the main gadget of the meta universe will probably be a full body suit from the startup tesla suit that also has haptic feedback. It can mimic everything from a bullet to a hug or even a raindrop. The tesla suit looks like a superhero costume, sensors and panels of various systems are built into the element of the garment.

In addition to the feedback there's a temperature control system that allows you to feel the temperature of the environment or objects. A motion capture system and a biometric feedback system that allows you to draw conclusions about a person's condition at any given moment.

When objects in VR interact with your body, the suit delivers an elaborate pulse of electrical current to an equivalent area of the physical body creating different sensations by varying the amplitude frequency and strength of the current. At its maximum intensity, the suit can cause a shock strong enough to cause muscles to contract involuntarily but cannot cause injury or serious pain.

In developing the technology the researchers discovered an interesting fact the simulation of touch doesn't have to be 100 percent. The brain itself will fill in a lot of the gaps and sensation.

At tesla suit in addition to the actual suit, they announced a product called glove which are as you guessed gloves with physical recoil. The developers claim that the novelty has no analogs. Gloves combine tactical sensation motion capture biometrics and force feedback, the fingertip contain areas capable of transmitting the sensation of surface texture and touch, hand tracking works in all planes and supports even fine motor skills.

The exoskeleton gives adjustable physical feedback an integrated biometric system collects data in real time and allows you to transmit your emotional state stress level and heart rate, the glove is completely wireless and connects to the suit via Wi-fi.

In addition to the tesla suit, the first consumer omnidirectional treadmill the catwalk mini s is also available. The device features advanced natural walking technology with power haptic feedback that will allow you to feel virtual events.

You can run on the walkway, crouch and bend down to pick up virtual objects, take cover by kneeling and all within the maximum range of arm and leg movements. True, the price of the catwalk mini s isn't exactly consumer friendly, at fifteen hundred dollars it's already considered a big discount for first-time pre-order customers.

So when do we get this meta universe. Honestly despite all the predictions for years the idea of virtual reality becoming mainstream has remained just that virtual. At the moment the key problem with VR is the lack of software for all the inventions that are out there as well as the high cost of development and production. However as we've said before, a lot of big companies are investing millions in this idea.

A number of these companies recently gathered at the Sig Graph 2021 computer graphics conference to chart the way forward and a session titled building an open meta culture. Representatives from Fortnite Roblox Nvidia and the unity 3D development platform discussed the 3D equivalent of jpegs.

Finding ways to share not just 3D objects but their behavior between virtual worlds, dealing with the massive data requirement of 3D environments and creating 3D content with an in-house design. Although many problems have not yet been solved, there are already many promising developments in these areas.