
Meta (YC S13) raises $50M series B - svig
http://techcrunch.com/2016/06/13/meta-raises-another-50m-as-it-gears-up-for-the-next-version-of-its-ar-headset-and-china/
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danielmorozoff
I very optimistic about what AR can bring. To me, the biggest roadblock for AR
as well with VR, is user interacting with the digital world constrained by the
physical one (a problem that's been recognized since the beginning).

Even in AR you do not have haptic feedback, this to me is a critical component
for a system to be truly adoptable outside of niche domains such as surgery,
industrial processing etc.

I am sure many people are think of this. I have seen some research work out of
the Media Lab at MIT trying to address this problem with deformable tables,
likewise a Japanese group was doing air pressure haptics.

Could anyone working in this space comment on some state of the art stuff? And
provide links? Thanks in advance.

~~~
svig
Yeah, haptic feedback is challenging. The thing that gets challenging in my
opinion with 3rd party haptic sensors is a low latency integration. Also,
there are no hardware standards that define performance/latency requirements
for a good AR experience. All those things will contribute to designing haptic
devices.

I saw a paper recently
[http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/handle/10292/9652](http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/handle/10292/9652)
around a low cost haptic game controller, which interested me a lot. There
might be clever ways to create alternate haptic feedback like hot or cold
sensations when an object is grabbed or interacted with
([https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151110082541.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151110082541.htm)).

Because AR itself is not mainstream yet, it is quite hard to figure out what
is the right haptic feedback that feels natural. I am hoping this will evolve.

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alechops
I have worked with Meta in the past. They are not going to release a viable
consumer product. I have serious doubts about Magic Leap achieving anything of
the like either.

AR is a good idea, but the management over at Meta has about as much chance of
making it viable for any customer as uBeam has of delivering on wireless
charging.

~~~
mdonahoe
Any concrete information from your time working with them?

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yefim
And here I was thinking the bubble was beginning to pop.

~~~
svig
What exactly is a bubble here? I think AR is going to hit high strides.

~~~
GFischer
Also, at the very least, they have a finished product.

[http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/02/hands-on-with-
the-949-mind-...](http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/02/hands-on-with-the-949-mind-
bending-meta-2-augmented-reality-headset/)

I don't know how big the market will be, but I already have potential
customers lined up for some very crappy forms of AR.

