Facebook has announced that it wants to build a teleporter by 2025. Well, not really, but the company does want to build a device that will offer virtual reality so good that it seems like you've been transported to another place.
The company has been a major player in the virtual realty space ever since it first bought Oculus VR back in March 2014, and it makes sense that it would only want to continue the development of the idea.
"Facebook wants to build a device that allows you to be anywhere you want, with anyone, regardless of geographic boundaries," said Facebook chief technical officer Mike Schroepfer at a press event.
The first headset from Oculus VR, the Oculus Rift, is set to go on sale to consumers starting next year, however, the headset won't be good enough to trick your brain into thinking that you're actually in a new location just yet. That's what Schroepfer envisages, with Facebook in the early phases of developing this.
To make this happen, Facebook is working on three concepts that are lacking in VR and make it feel fake today. The first is people being able to see themselves. Currently, users can't really look down and see their hands, and if they can, it isn't really realistic. The second concept is imitating the environment, with the company basically needing to work on improving how real environments actually look.
The third and final concept is allowing normal people to create their own environments. To achieve this, Facebook will need to give people without lots of money or training the ability to create their own virtual reality content.
It will certainly be interesting to see how much virtual reality improves over the next decade, and even if we don't actually invent teleporters, it's only a matter of time before we have the next best thing.
Via: Business Insider
