Typing while using virtual reality or augmented reality headsets can be tedious. For this reason, Meta showed off its research that turns any flat surface into a virtual keyboard. Mark Zuckerberg posted a video on his personal Instagram profile in which he and Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth try out the surface-locked virtual keyboard using Quest 2 glasses.Virtual keyboards are coming
While Meta CEO Zuckerberg claims that he can type approximately 100 words per minute thanks to the virtual keyboard, he says that Bosworth reached 119 words per minute. While the average person types about 40 words per minute on a traditional keyboard, experienced or trained people in this field can reach 70 to 120 words per minute.
Nowadays text input in VR and AR is cumbersome and significantly slower than on PCs and smartphones. Floating virtual keyboards require you to hold your hands awkwardly up and press one key at a time, provide no tactile feedback, and prevent you from resting your wrist. If future headsets can turn any flat surface into a virtual keyboard, it could provide partial haptic feedback and allow you to rest your wrists the same way you can on physical keyboards, without having to carry a physical keyboard.
Important for VR/AR headsets
Developers can technically create surface-locked virtual keyboards in Meat’s Quests today by enabling hand tracking and the user touching the surface to calibrate their position. However, in practice, even the slightest deviation of the virtual surface height from the real surface causes incorrect key presses.
Meta has not yet shared how exactly his research solves this problem. However, it can be seen that there are reference marks on the table in the clip. If the system is pre-programmed with the exact dimensions of these reference marks, a robust dynamic calibration can be performed. Meta will add a depth sensor for the first time to the Quest 3, which is not yet on sale. The company may eventually add virtual keyboard support to Quest 3. Meta, meanwhile, will likely showcase more of its VR and AR research at Meta Connect, which kicks off on September 27 this year.
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