A few years ago, the purchase for $ 2 billion by Facebook company Oculus VR assumed a priority development of virtual reality, because the Oculus Rift headset is devoid of built-in cameras. The unprecedented popularity of the game Pokemon Go and other arguments proved that the augmented reality has, if not the best, equal to the virtual reality perspective. Therefore, in December 2016, Facebook was created two separate units: one continued to deal with the stationary headset Oculus Rift, and the second was engaged in the development of stand-alone sets, including platforms for augmented reality.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported that within 5-10 years a "form factor" set will be created, providing a comprehensive work with augmented reality AR. While this is not the case, the company creates an AR platform for smartphones using mobile device cameras. This will be the first mass platform for such tasks, which, given the huge Facebook audience, will not be surprising. At the initial stage, the "AR studio" platform supports a 3D image combined with reality and tracks the faces.
The firm API AR studio in the beta version began to spread among developers, including the company Electronic Arts and the football club Manchester United. The first applications for AR promise to be games and pop-up tips. In both cases, it is intended to use systems with deep machine learning, which, in particular, is required for pattern recognition and for digitizing the surrounding space (3D modeling).
The Facebook Caffe2 platform for deep machine learning is supported by Qualcomm and NVIDIA. Separately, Qualcomm creates together with Facebook the version of the standalone Oculus Rift, which was shown at the meeting with the developers. Autonomous version of the Oculus Rift is equipped with four cameras and does not require a connection to a PC or a smartphone. The headset in real time digitizes the surrounding space and allows the user to move around in the helmet without losing orientation.
Finally, Facebook told about the VR-platform Facebook Spaces. This is a virtual environment on the company's servers where any user can download panoramic (circular) video and where virtual communication of citizens can be carried out, including video calls and messages. It is reported that American Express, Hyatt, PayPal and Subway are starting to use commercial services for commercial purposes. Using machine learning algorithms, the service can help small companies integrate their own WEB content into the resource.