Meta Collaborates with Ousted Oculus Founder’s Company to Develop Top AR and VR Systems for the US Military

Alright, picture this: Palmer Luckey, a guy who seems to just live for surprises, has his military tech biz, Anduril, joining forces with Meta to craft some top-notch AR and VR gizmos for the US military. Yep, you heard right.

So here’s the backstory like a badly edited movie flashback: Luckey kicked off Oculus in 2012. Remember the Rift headset? That little thing that kinda dragged VR back into the spotlight? Well, Facebook (now Meta) snatched it up in 2014 for a jaw-dropping $2 billion. Luckey stuck around for a bit under the Meta umbrella but then, poof, he was out — politics or something. No biggie, he bounced back with Anduril, a defense-tech startup that became a multi-billion dollar giant in no time.

Anyway, Anduril has been fiddling with XR tech, mixing it up with drones and sensors and whatever else they could tinker with. Fun fact, they’re now steering Microsoft’s IVAS program. Imagine AR helmets for the US Army. Why? Because the future is now, apparently.

And back to the big news, Anduril teaming with Meta. They’re on a mission to whip up AR and VR systems that give soldiers almost superhero-like perception on the battlefield. Sounds like sci-fi, huh? But they’re serious — it’s all about making fancy gear for less taxpayer dough using commercial tech. Yeah, wild.

Luckey is all jazzed about working with Meta again. He’s got this mad scientist vibe, talking about turning soldiers into “technomancers.” Can you imagine? Anyway, this patch-up between him and Meta’s top brass, like Zuckerberg and that guy Boz, is kinda surprising too. They didn’t end things on the best note — drama, am I right?

So where does this lead? Mostly likely to those AR helmets in the IVAS project, this time with Meta’s tech sprinkled in. Seems like the battlefield’s about to get a bit more high-tech. Or maybe I just watched too many dystopian flicks. Who knows.