Meta is updating its mixed reality hand tracking system to support more types of movements, including gestures like clapping. After a limited preview with a handful of developers, a new version of its Presence Platform API is rolling out to everyone, promising more sophisticated and reliable interactions on the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest headset.
The Presence Platform update aims to overhaul Quest hand tracking — which uses a headset-mounted camera to replace the default hardware controller — across the board. In addition to general reliability updates, it’s also focused on recognizing motion when part of your hand is blocked from the camera’s view. It should now capture clapping, high fives, cross hands, and other gestures involving occlusion. The thumbs-up motion, as well as more abstract interface interactions like pinching, grabbing, and poking, should also be improved. Developers who have built custom gestures, such as punching in a virtual reality boxing game, may also see those gestures getting better.
Camera-based hand tracking isn’t necessarily the ultimate goal of Meta’s interactivity — although the press release briefly mentions systems using the Presence Platform on “future devices” and Quest. The company is developing an augmented reality wristband that can read your arm’s neural activity based on technology acquired from startup CTRL-Labs in 2019. It is also testing a haptic glove that can generate haptic feedback in addition to capturing motion. But those systems are still a few years away, and camera-based hand tracking doesn’t require anything but a software update to standard VR headset sensors. It’s one of those devices that helped push the Quest from a purely VR-focused device to a blend of physical and virtual worlds — even if it’s still not the primary way many people interact with the platform.
