New document reveals how Facebook’s Project Aria AR glasses work and look like

• Facebook’s Project Aria AR glasses look like normal glasses but have a lot going on under the hood.
• It is powered by a Qualcomm chip and uses the same camera sensors as the Oculus Quest 2.
• Project Aria is not a commercial product and it is used to help develop future AR devices.

Facebook announced Project Aria, its experimental AR glasses back in September 2020. It has since provided very few details about Project Aria other than saying that it’s not a commercial product and that it will actually help Facebook in building future AR devices. That’s not to say we aren’t interested in what those smart glasses can do. A manual uploaded on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website has detailed what the Project Aria smart glasses look like and how it works.

This FCC manual spotted by Protocol is actually dated August 28, 2020 so the AR glasses could have gone through some changes. But it still gives an overview of how it works and what it features. Project Aria is codenamed Gemini according to the document. The AR glasses look quite like any other pair of normal glasses but it comes with a host of features that obviously make it different.

Firstly, you can’t clasp the arms of the AR glasses together but there are quite a few important buttons on them. On the right side the status LED indicator, proximity sensor and power button are placed together. At the bottom of the right arm is the mute switch that is used to record and mute. On the left arm of the AR glasses there is the capture button which is for the built-in camera sensors. Project Aria uses the same camera sensors as the Oculus Quest 2, according to Protocol. The AR glasses are also powered by a Qualcomm chip.

What is Project Aria used for?

For charging and transferring data, the AR glasses use a magnetic connector. There’s also a companion app for the glasses that displays battery status, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and also the data collected. As Facebook already explained, the AR glasses will be used to capture video and audio along with the wearer’s eye tracking and location information. The glasses have a computing power that will encrypt and store information which will later be used to see how AR works in the real world.

Facebook smart glasses with Ray-Ban

Facebook has already said that the AR glasses are not a commercial project but it is planning to launch a pair of smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban. Facebook is still quiet on details and all we know is that it will feature the classic Ray-Ban design and it will “let you do some pretty neat things”.

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