Imagine putting on a pair of glasses and seeing your world expand before you. You open the fridge, look at your food and recipe recommendations appear before your eyes. On a walk, you view the day’s appointments and set reminders without looking at your phone. Life is simpler, more connected and more present.

These ideas aren’t a distant dream — they’re part of the vision for Orion, an augmented reality (AR) wearables initiative recently unveiled at Meta Connect. Nearly a decade ago, the team set out with a goal: envision limitless, unexplored possibilities for AR wearables — and built from scratch. Today, they’ve developed what several call “a time capsule for the future.” Anaid G., Director of Product Management, Wearables, explains: “It’s a forward-looking snapshot of what’s possible when AR, AI and wearables come together.”

Now the team is charting the course. We sat down with three contributors to learn how innovating the future of AR glasses feels like bringing sci-fi into reality.

Building a foundation for the future of AR wearables

“The excitement around the future of AR wearables at Meta is unmatched, and leadership is invested in taking big, bold bets,” says Anaid. A believer in technology for good, Anaid is inspired to help create a vision not only for Meta, but for the wearables industry. “Our team is inventing new ways for people to use hardware in their daily lives. We want to build glasses that truly change people’s perspective — from how we communicate with devices to how we evolve as humans. We’re already seeing early signs of this as people use Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to capture moments they couldn’t before.”

Orion is the first AR wearable in an actual glasses form factor — which means the team needed to define a new computing paradigm from scratch. “Everything about this form factor is new and novel so all the interaction and experiences needed to be defined for it,” explains Selena S., Director of Product Management, who helped lead the charge. “Right now, we’re laying the foundation and validating what we got right, where we can improve, and where to keep pushing.”

The team is creating a new type of computer, explains Jossie T., Product Manager Lead, Wearables Interfaces. They draw design inspiration from everyday technologies — such as car dashboards, gaming consoles and common houseware — to make informed guesses about how people might adopt AR wearables. “With this project, achieving success wasn’t about releasing an external product. It was about learning how to build the foundation that gets us to a better product over time. This is our first attempt at conceptualizing how AR glasses will work for people and what a new type of ecosystem could look like. It’s a north star we can learn from.”

Tackling newfound technical challenges

Anaid embraces the unknown when building new technology. “There isn’t real-world usage data when you’re building something that never existed before — there’s no clear model or path to follow,” she shares. “Our team asks open-ended questions and works closely with art, design, UX research and engineering teams across hardware and software. It feels more like we’re making movies. We think like storytellers and design rich AR experiences that truly immerse the people using the tech.”

On the hardware side, Selena and her team tackle technical trade-offs and pivot as they discover new challenges. “We’ve grappled with a wide range of problems and solutions, from color and brightness to image quality. We haven’t solved them all, but we’ve been mindful of this tension as we explore the next iterations,” she says. “At the start of the project, we believed we had a less than 10% chance of making it a reality because it involves so many new tech initiatives. Just getting the system up and running is incredible. This project feels like a once-in-a-career opportunity.”

According to Jossie, Orion has the most complex user interface at Meta. Her team had to solve for a new interaction model, considering the mix of new inputs — from the neural wristband alongside gaze, to how pixels work when the AR interface overlaps with the physical world. “Defining the interaction model was difficult, but we had to make sure people could still make eye contact with others while wearing the glasses. The system interface should enable connection, not distract from it.”

Making a real-world impact for the future

Anaid, Selena and Jossie find endless motivation in potential impact. For Anaid, it’s building a future where people find it easier to be present. “Imagine redesigning your home and being able to see all the different combinations, floors, furniture and even complex layouts. What if I remove this wall? How will it change the light?” she smiles. “There are so many applications for this tech, from playing social games to viewing enormous reels right in front of you while following a recipe in your kitchen.”

Selena believes the future of AR will evolve alongside AI. “Generative AI is just so cool. There’s so much substance beyond the hype, and so many areas where it can be truly helpful,” she says. “Contextual AI has always been part of our vision, though we anticipated introducing other capabilities first. With recent advancements in AI, though, the things we wanted to do five years ago are actually possible now in a meaningful way — like adding Meta AI to Orion. As AI continues to evolve as a tool, my team asks: how will that affect the way people use AR glasses?”

Jossie hopes everyone has the chance to try this out. “I want AR devices and experiences to be accessible for people around the world. I hope they use them every day — as commonly as printing or sharing files today, which were once novel formats,” she shares. “I hope this work serves as an inspiration for what AR interfaces could be like in future consumer products.”

Looking ahead, the team will continue exploring use cases from entertainment and communication to productivity. “People don’t realize how much our team truly cares,” Selena reflects. “We care about the product, doing the right thing, and for each other. It’s really special.”