Niantic (developer of Pokemon Go) is working on an augmented reality headset
The company Niantic (known primarily for the augmented reality games Pokemon Go and Ingress) is now working not only on another AR game: during the event Snapdragon Summit 2022 they demonstrated a prototype of their own AR headset.
The headset is based on the new Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 chipset and has a very compact appearance: it looks more like glasses than a “virtual reality helmet”. Unlike the first prototype (based on the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1), the new version has almost invisible cameras, plus it got rid of the wires that connected the first prototype to the smartphone.
As Niantic notes, the new model is optimized for outdoor use, the developer plans to make it lighter than 250 g and is aimed at “long game sessions” — from an hour to two.
Qualcomm characterizes the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 as its first chipset built specifically for augmented reality — unlike previous generations that were designed for use in both augmented and virtual reality. This is a “multi-chip distributed processing architecture” that includes an AR processor, an AR co-processor, and communication with a smartphone or PC — and all this can be located not on one board, but on two side panels or even on the bridge of the glasses.
Niantic also showed a video with examples of the use of the headset, in which you can see the interaction with virtual objects, gameplay options, and help in navigating the city.