Meta’s Aria Gen 2 glasses are here but you can’t buy them

A few months ago, Meta introduced the Orion, a pair of smart glasses featuring advanced holographic display units. Today, Meta has unveiled the Aria Gen 2 platform, which builds upon the original Aria smart glasses project.

The next-generation Aria smart glasses are designed similarly to Ray-Ban Meta Stories but feature bulkier arms. One significant upgrade is the integration of a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor, embedded in the nose pad, which allows for heart rate measurement. These glasses are the first of their kind to include this biosensing capability.

Meta has enhanced the sensor stack of the Aria Gen 2 glasses, equipping them with a regular RGB camera, eye-tracking cameras, and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) cameras, supporting six degrees of freedom (DoF) movement. Additional hardware includes a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a barometer for pressure sensing, and a magnetometer. The glasses also feature a contact-based microphone array that isolates the user’s voice from surrounding noise.

Meta developed a custom processing assembly to ensure efficient power consumption of the sophisticated sensor stack. The Aria Gen 2 smart glasses can be worn continuously for six to eight hours, which is significantly noteworthy in the wearable technology market.

However, these smart glasses are not available for public sale. They will be distributed to researchers as well as Meta employees working in the Reality Labs and FAIR AI divisions. The Aria platform has found various applications in fields such as automotive technology and medical tools, including solutions for individuals with vision impairments and navigation assistance.

The data collected from the Aria Gen 2 smart glasses will support advancements in robotics training, with Meta looking to further develop robotic technology, including humanoid robots, in the future.

Since its inception in 2020, Project Aria has facilitated global research in machine perception and AI by providing access to advanced research hardware and open-source datasets. The new Aria Gen 2 glasses expand the capabilities of the Aria platform, especially in research areas such as egocentric and contextual AI, and robotics.

Compared to its predecessor, Aria Gen 1, the unique attributes of Aria Gen 2 include:

• A state-of-the-art sensor suite comprising an RGB camera, 6DOF SLAM cameras, eye-tracking cameras, spatial microphones, and other sensors.
• On-device machine perception capabilities, with functions like SLAM, eye tracking, hand tracking, and speech recognition processed using Meta’s custom silicon.
• All-day usability with a weight of approximately 75 grams and foldable arms for portability.
• Interaction through audio via high-quality, open-ear force-canceling speakers.

Meta’s Reality Labs Research and FAIR AI lab will utilize the Aria Gen 2 glasses to pursue long-term research objectives. The availability of this technology to academic and commercial research labs through Project Aria aims to enhance public understanding of critical technologies shaping the future of computing and AI.

Past utilization of earlier Aria glasses has produced valuable tools, such as the Ego-Exo4D dataset, instrumental for modern computer vision and robotics. Research teams at institutions like Georgia Tech and automobile manufacturers like BMW have tested the Aria Research Kit to enhance humanoid robotics and integrate augmented and virtual reality systems into vehicles.

Meta’s display-equipped Ray-Bans could make smartphones look old-school

The Aria Gen 2 glasses are also set to contribute to technologies for accessibility. Envision, an organization focused on assisting individuals with low vision, is leveraging these glasses in collaboration with a project that aims to improve indoor navigation through spatial audio integration with its Ally AI assistant. This application demonstrates the glasses’ potential in facilitating seamless navigation for blind and low-vision individuals, leveraging the on-device SLAM and audio features.

In the coming months, Meta plans to provide further details regarding the availability of Aria Gen 2 to partner organizations. Researchers interested in accessing these smart glasses can sign up for updates on Meta’s progress in this field.

Featured image credit: Meta