Metaverse: Mark Zuckerberg shows off VR headgear prototypes

For long, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has been a strong advocate of the virtuality reality (VR) segment and he even changed its corporate company name to Meta, to further the work on his virtual reality platform metaverse.

Zuckerberg sees a lot of potential in virtual reality not just in gaming but also in education. While replying to a fan on Monday (June 20)'s video post on Facebook, he said he wouldn't have dropped out of the college mid-way if the classes were conducted with VR headset gear.

Zuckerberg in the short video byte released on Facebook gave fans and tech enthusiasts a glimpse of the company's four advanced VR prototypes. And, he gave some insights on what challenges the company's Reality Labs division is facing and how it is being resolved.

The new VR headgear test model code-named butterscotch is able to support 'retinal resolution' with 60 pixels per degree and let users comfortably read the smallest of the characters on an eye testing chart.

The second challenge is the focal length, Reality Labs' engineers are testing models to enable users to view objects clearly no matter how far or near to the eyes in the VR headgear.

This issue has been resolved with a Varifocal feature and eye-tracking technology, which offers an all-around view in 3D.

Meta's Reality Labs is also working on software optimization to control optical distortion.

Also, to offer HDR (High Dynamic Range) and ensure objects such as flora and fauna look rich in colours, Reality Labs has developed a prototype codenamed starburst, the first HDR VR system.

These technologies promise that things we see in virtual space through VR headsets look natural like we see through our eyes in the real world.

The company has also developed a working Holocake 2 prototype, which has been incorporated with the latest AR/VR tech that can overcome the challenges mentioned above but needs more testing.

Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg showing off new VR headgear prototype Holocake 2 on Facebook (screen-grab)

"Showing some new prototype VR displays as part of our research to make the metaverse as realistic as the physical world. Need to solve challenges with retinal resolution, multiple focal depths, high dynamic range and more -- and then fit all that tech into devices lighter / thinner than anything that exists. We have the best teams in the world working on all these problems," Zuckerberg said.

The advancement made by Meta with respect to VR headset technology looks promising. But, there is no official word on when we can see the commercial variant on the store shelves.

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