Leaked video shows how Meta Quest 3's Smart Guardian might work
Meta Quest 3 is expected to introduce an intelligent Guardian system. A video leak shows how it might work and what it might bring.
Firmware sleuth Samulia found tutorial videos showing the Smart Guardian in the beta version of the latest firmware update v55.
The videos show a user walking around a living room with Meta Quest 3 while the headset's depth sensor scans and maps the room and objects within. A digital status indicator shows when the scan is complete.
In one of the videos, the mapped environment lights up as a warning when the woman approaches physical objects (wall, TV, lamp). In another, a digital ball bounces off previously scanned physical objects.
The many benefits of a Smart Guardian
With Meta Quest 2, you have to manually draw walls, objects and play space boundaries, which is a tedious process.
Meta Quest 3's Smart Guardian could automate and refine these steps. This would make virtual reality easier and safer to use, and mixed reality more accessible and immersive. The latter thanks to a more accurate spatial understanding of the environment, enabled by the Quest 3's depth sensor and Smart Guardian.
Via Samulia, some early NUX animations for Meta Quest 3's room scanning technology.
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It remains to be seen whether the Smart Guardian will actually work as shown in the videos. Meta itself has not announced any details about this feature. In the announcement for Meta Quest 3, Meta said:
"On Quest 3, our best-in-class Meta Reality technology lets you seamlessly blend your physical world with the virtual one. These new experiences go beyond today’s mixed reality by intelligently understanding and responding to objects in your physical space and allowing you to navigate that space in natural, intuitive ways that were nearly impossible before."
An earlier leak confirmed a smart Guardian
That a smart Guardian system is in development was revealed in a leak from early March that gave an insight into Meta's plans.
According to the leak, Meta's VP of VR Mark Rabkin internally announced a smart guardian that will form the backbone of the new kind of mixed reality that Quest 3 enables.
"The main north star for the team was from the moment you put on this headset, the mixed reality has to make it feel better, easier, more natural. You can walk effortlessly through your house knowing you can see perfectly well. You can put anchors and things on your desktop. You can take your coffee. You can stay in there much longer,” Rabkin reportedly said in an internal presentation.
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