Facebook has shown its vision of the smartworking of the future through virtual and augmented reality.
The Facebook manager for virtual reality and augmented reality, Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, he tweeted a fragment of video showing real existing technologies. They could draw the whole future of smartworking.
It's only eight seconds long, but it gives us an idea of what the tech giant is planning.
Bosworth's statements:
“When it comes to enhancing remote work and productivity, we have been working on mixed reality concepts. They build on existing technologies like Passthrough to allow people to switch between the real and virtual worlds. This is real footage using the prototype headphones. We are always experimenting with future concepts using different hardware configurations as part of our proof of concept process.”
The clip features virtual computer screens “immersed” in a real-world context. They are resized and arranged with the simple gesture of a virtual hand controlled by a wearable device.
Facebook explains in a blog post: “In the future, we could create an enhanced workspace with multiple customizable screens in VR, without the limitations of physical monitors. It would leverage technologies like Passthrough to create a mixed reality productivity experience that lets people switch between a real and virtual world at any time, improving spatial awareness and offering the same flexibility we're used to with laptops and other devices common".
The concept is also explored by others
Microsoft's HoloLens may also offer users similar augmented reality powers, and Facebook itself has already considered similar ideas. Of course, given the prospect of having more and more resources working from home permanently, making a "virtual office" operational has become a more urgent objective.
In short, between virtual reality (totally developed by a computer and shown through a viewer) and augmented reality (graphic elements superimposed on the vision of a normal scenario) the mixed reality, an advanced augmented reality. A "double immersion", almost a fusion between real and virtual.
