Project Aria
Research glasses for teaching machines to see like us
Latest: Aria Gen 2 — applications open; broad rollout to qualified researchers targeted Q2 2026
Reality Labs' sensor-packed research glasses program (no display — pure perception). Aria Gen 2, announced February 2025, packs four HDR global-shutter cameras, eye tracking, a heart-rate PPG sensor, custom low-power co-processor running on-device SLAM and hand tracking, in a 74-76g folding frame with about 8 hours of battery.
Why it matters
Project Aria is how Meta collects the human perspective at scale: display-free research glasses with HDR cameras, eye tracking and on-device SLAM, loaned to researchers who in turn produce the Ego-Exo4D, Digital Twin and Everyday Activities datasets. Gen 2 adds sub-millisecond multi-device sync and a wearer-isolating contact microphone.
Facts
- Hardware is application-only, but the tooling (projectaria_tools) and datasets (Aria Everyday Activities, Aria Digital Twin, Aria Gen 2 Pilot Dataset) are openly released.
- Gen 2 uses sub-GHz radio for sub-millisecond multi-device time sync and a contact microphone that separates the wearer's voice from bystanders'.
Try it yourself
Apply for Aria Gen 2 (projectaria.com) ↗ pip install projectaria-tools ↗ Browse the Aria Dataset Explorer ↗
Lineage
Sources
Meta AI blog ↗projectaria.com ↗facebookresearch.github.io ↗