Meta unveiled Quest 3 earlier this month, its upcoming standalone VR headset that not only promises to be thinner and more powerful than Quest 2, but also offer color passthrough for augmented reality. Now renowned dataminer ‘Samulia’ has uncovered what appears to be an early video of the headset’s ‘Smart Guardian’ feature in action.

Samulia published four videos showing off what seems to be a work-in-progress look at a new user experience (NUX) for Quest 3. The videos below seem to show how a new user might setup and use the headset’s guardian function, which is designed to keep users safe from bumping into objects.

The clips, which appear to be early prototypes, look similar to other videos which Meta includes in its headsets to explain basic functions, such as how to use hand-tracking, guardian setup, how to fit the headset for best comfort, etc. Here are those videos, courtesy Twitter user @Lunayian:

https://twitter.com/Lunayian/status/1667717804223610880

https://twitter.com/Lunayian/status/1667717805905526784

In the first two videos, it appears a user is using the headset’s inside-out sesnors to scan their playspace, which includes recognition of objects such as couches, coffee tables, desks, TVs, desktop computers, and decorative items—all of which seem to be recognized and individually meshed.

https://twitter.com/Lunayian/status/1667717807730032641

https://twitter.com/Lunayian/status/1667717809999101952

In the last two videos we see the Smart Guardian in action, which notifies the user of close-by objects. There also appears to be a primary workspace marking function similar to what we see on Quest 2 and Quest Pro in addition to a quick clip of the user playing with a ball in mixed reality, which notably accounts for the user’s furniture as play surfaces.

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Meta hasn’t detailed its Smart Guardian system, a naming scheme first mentioned in a leaked roadmap which was allegedly presented by Mark Rabkin, Meta’s VP of VR. The company has however said Quest 3 will “seamlessly blend your physical world with the virtual one,” and that its system will be capable of “intelligently understanding and responding to objects in your physical space and allowing you to navigate that space in natural, intuitive ways that were nearly impossible before.”

Samulia also has a good track record of mining data from Quest firmware releases well before their official announcements. They’re credited with uncovering NUX video in 2021 showing off the first glimpse at Quest Pro in addition to extracting the Meta logo before it was officially unveiled at the company’s February 2022 pivot announcement.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • another juan

    terrible decision going again with that half-shaved-head character in overalls, if this was supposed to represent an average user.

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    Assuming this is not just for MR games with passthrough, but also for normal VR games, it could be a real boon for those living in small apartments and either lacking the space or the motivation to all the time clear enough room for an adequate play area just to use VR. A stationary guardian often works, but can be very limiting.

    Having furniture within your play space would still cause problems, but if the detected objects are blended into regular VR games as for example semi-transparent shapes, games could become at least playable without even small moves requiring stick movement or teleporting, instead making those necessary only when they are standing in front of the coffee table. The strange transparent boxes popping up in the virtual environment would reduce immersion, but that’s better than not being able to play in VR at all, and after a while they may almost vanish from consciousness.

  • For some reason, it reminds me of Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing videoclip

  • xyzs

    I bet they work on their OS 4x harder since june 5th.

  • kraeuterbutter

    i hope you can still set your guardian by yourself..
    i dont want the VR_headset to show me for example my couch.
    i – on purpose – make my guarding lot bigger, because when standing i can use the space above some of the objects in my living-room (couch)
    i dont want the guardian to pop up all the time
    there are other objects iam fine with “hitting” them with my feet – so iam also dont want a guardian there..
    other things are expensive (1000 Euro my monitor) – so i want to have a little bit more distance there..
    so: custom-made guardian is still a feature i want

    • Nevets

      I want, I want, I want. They’re not designing the headset just for you, you know.

  • kraeuterbutter

    beside: never use the stationary guardian.. its too small on the quest2

    its ok with the Pico4, much bigger chossable

    most time: when using stationary, i just turn around 360 and make a circle.. that is done in 1 second and i can deside how big my boarder should be