Meron Gribetz, Founder and CEO, Meta
A talk from the Inspire Track at AWE USA 2017 - the largest conference for AR+VR in Santa Clara, California May 31- June 2, 2017.
For years, augmented reality has been glimpsed through toy-like demos and narrow use-cases. Meta CEO Meron Gribetz, however, sees AR as the next great productivity platform, and invites you to witness the unveiling of his company's full-scale AR workspace. See for yourself why spatial computing isn't just the future of creativity and collaboration, but closer than you might think.
http://AugmentedWorldExpo.com
8. 2017 Meta @AWE. Confidential & Proprietary.
W H A T A R C U S T O M E R S W A N T
Wide FOV
9. 2017 Meta @AWE. Confidential & Proprietary.
W H A T A R C U S T O M E R S W A N T
Wide FOV
High Resolution
10. 2017 Meta @AWE. Confidential & Proprietary.
W H A T A R C U S T O M E R S W A N T
Wide FOV
High Resolution
Direct Manipulation
11. 2017 Meta @AWE. Confidential & Proprietary.
W H A T A R C U S T O M E R S W A N T
Wide FOV
High Resolution
Direct Manipulation
Natural Collaboration
12. 2017 Meta @AWE. Confidential & Proprietary.
W H A T A R C U S T O M E R S W A N T
Wide FOV
High Resolution
Direct Manipulation
Natural Collaboration
Clarity within 1.5m
I think it’s safe to say that if you’re in this room right now, you’ve already realized that the future of computing is holographic—not trapped inside flat devices.
My name is Meron Gribetz, and I’m the CEO of Meta, a company founded on this idea.
I’d like to share with you our journey starting from the Meta 1, the very first AR headset on the market...
...and then demo the latest hardware the Meta 2—which is approaching photorealism...
In 2012 a few friends and I hacked together a prototype in an apartment in harlem / cut plastic with a hot knife / mag dots.
Convinced animators across the world to help us make a video for the Kickstarter campaign, then put it online just to see what would happen
Getting an endorsement from Steve Feiner is like a Jewish conversion, expect no 3 times, before a yes.
Orders came trickling in... Imagine being in your dorm room when an order comes in from Arup, the world’s biggest construction company.
It was an exciting moment, but it as it turned out, we had a lot to learn.
Once we beat our Kickstarter goal, we knew we had something special... but we didn’t quite know what. So we interviewed every one of our customers and found out they weren’t looking for games or toys—they wanted professional grade, world-class hardware.
Our customers want more than chasing Pokemon: 80% of them are coming from industry, only 5% entertainment.
They needed tools, not toys.
Wide FOV: Four times wider than the Meta 1 or Hololens
High resolution: For photorealistic model viewing, or clearly reading text set in 12 point Times New Roman.
Direct manipulation: The brain wants to grab holograms directly, just like real objects—not via gestures, and not from a distance.
Natural collaboration: So two people—or more—can manipulate holograms together in a natural way.
Clarity within a 1.5 meter range: This is where productivity typically happens.
Wide FOV: Four times wider than the Meta 1 or Hololens
High resolution: For photorealistic model viewing, or clearly reading text set in 12 point Times New Roman.
Direct manipulation: The brain wants to grab holograms directly, just like real objects—not via gestures, and not from a distance.
Natural collaboration: So two people—or more—can manipulate holograms together in a natural way.
Clarity within a 1.5 meter range: This is where productivity typically happens.
Wide FOV: Four times wider than the Meta 1 or Hololens
High resolution: For photorealistic model viewing, or clearly reading text set in 12 point Times New Roman.
Direct manipulation: The brain wants to grab holograms directly, just like real objects—not via gestures, and not from a distance.
Natural collaboration: So two people—or more—can manipulate holograms together in a natural way.
Clarity within a 1.5 meter range: This is where productivity typically happens.
Wide FOV: Four times wider than the Meta 1 or Hololens
High resolution: For photorealistic model viewing, or clearly reading text set in 12 point Times New Roman.
Direct manipulation: The brain wants to grab holograms directly, just like real objects—not via gestures, and not from a distance.
Natural collaboration: So two people—or more—can manipulate holograms together in a natural way.
Clarity within a 1.5 meter range: This is where productivity typically happens.
Wide FOV: Four times wider than the Meta 1 or Hololens
High resolution: For photorealistic model viewing, or clearly reading text set in 12 point Times New Roman.
Direct manipulation: The brain wants to grab holograms directly, just like real objects—not via gestures, and not from a distance.
Natural collaboration: So two people—or more—can manipulate holograms together in a natural way.
Clarity within a 1.5 meter range: This is where productivity typically happens.
So we hired an awesome team of over 150 hardware and software experts, took over the old GoPro offices, and set about building exactly what our customers needed. No more hot-gluing mag-dots. Now we’re working on light field displays and other amazing technology.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
We’re proud to say we achieved what our customers wanted: AR hardware that performs at a professional level, but at a price most users can afford. Of course, we acknowledge it’s taken a little more time than we’d have liked, the difference in quality is truly remarkable. We think you’ll agree as soon as you see it:
Visual will return to spec list from previous slide Speak to each new item as it appears:
They asked for a wider FOV, so Meta 2 provides a full 90 degrees.
They asked for high resolution, and Meta 2 delivers 2.5K bright display with 21 pixels per degree—more than enough for fine text legibility and single-line clarity in CAD viewing.
They asked for direct manipulation and you’re about to see how seriously we took that request.
And we deliver crystal clarity within 1.5-2 meters.
Speaking of which, we’re ramping up production and should fulfill all orders in the coming months.
So we delivered the hardware our customers wanted. Is that it? Did we “solve AR”?
Hardly.
Turns out, this was only the beginning of the story.
Developing great hardware isn’t enough. Experience is what counts. So the real question is this: how do we create an experience so natural you can’t put the hardware down?
So we delivered the hardware our customers wanted. Is that it? Did we “solve AR”?
Hardly.
Turns out, this was only the beginning of the story.
Developing great hardware isn’t enough. Experience is what counts. So the real question is this: how do we create an experience so natural you can’t put the hardware down?
From this guideline came some pretty remarkable inventions, which we patented the heck out of to protect from the big guys, and opened to developers. At the core of these is Air Grab:
If you can reach out and grab, you can do anything in AR. Air grab is the only thing you need to learn and that is the beauty of this medium.
Workspace Demo
One thing I’ve learned throughout this kickstarter journey, is that people don’t want something in 1 year, or 5 years, or 10 years - they want it now, and they want it to change the way they work. They don’t want more POCs.
I would tell you this is the future of productivity, but it’s not. This is the present. This is how we work every day at Meta, and it can be how you do too.
