Arilyn Blog – All things augmented

AR Weekly | February 25 | 2022

Written by Liisa Mathlin | 25.2.2022

Meta teases an AI concept to create virtual worlds with voice commands.

Also, a new partnership to unlock more real-world-bound Metaverse experiences has emerged, and an app lets you live-stream yourself in AR.

Read on!

Meta AI Concept: create virtual worlds by describing what you want

Meta's new AI-powered concept for creating virtual worlds is called Builder Bot. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosted a demo of the Builder Bot building a virtual beach according to his vocal wishes.

In the demo, Zuckerberg describes a beach with some clouds, trees and an island nearby. Builder Bot then creates the virtual beach quite quickly.

Zuckerberg states that the Builder Bot is still a concept, and many things need to be resolved. However, if the world-building with voice commands one day sees the light of day, it makes creation in the Metaverse much more natural in opposed to consoles and controllers.

Check the video of the demo below.

 

NextNav and echo3D partner to unlock new Metaverse experiences in vertical location

NextNav and echo3D have partnered in an exciting collaboration; NextNav's vertical location service, Pinnacle, will provide echo3D developers with 3D location data to build immersive content on top of the physical world.

For example, AR content within a multistory building can be tied to the end user's vertical location, unlocking realistic views, perspectives, and experiences and allowing users to purchase and collect items with location-based validation.

 

"Precise location capabilities, including the vertical dimension, are foundational to the future of immersive mixed-reality experience," said Alon Grinshpoon, co-founder and CEO of echo3D.

 

Dan Hight, NextNav VP of Business Development and Partnerships, said, "As we look ahead toward the building of the metaverse, our collaboration with echo3D marks a key development in enabling the digital layer that will soon exist on top of our physical world."

Beem lets you live-stream yourself in AR

A startup called Beem has announced its first consumer app and a long-term plan to become a communications technology for the AR glasses of the future.

Beem, previously known as HoloMe, soft-launched its latest iteration last month. The company's goal is to put live AR into consumers' hands.

At the moment, the app works on mobile devices. The user downloads the app, records themselves with it, and send a link to a friend, who can then place the live video to their own environment as AR.

Beem CEO Janosch Amstutz describes the app's strength as the live experience rather than high-class quality. At least at this point. "We don't need to be super technical…We need the mind of the viewer to believe what they're seeing is a real human and that's enough," says Amstutz.

The app will have to wait for better days to shine truly.

According to Amstutz, "The ideal circumstance for two-way telepresence to happen is wearing a set of augmented reality glasses and just having a tracking webcam in your room."

 

That's all for now, see you next time!