Palmer Luckey’s army tech firm Anduril not too long ago introduced a partnership with Meta to construct “the world’s finest AR and VR techniques for the US army.” In two current public conversations, Luckey supplied up some particulars on the XR helmet his firm is constructing for the army and the way this unlikely partnership arose years after his VR firm Oculus was acquired by Meta, adopted by his unceremonious firing.
Following the announcement, Luckey spoke to host Ashlee Vance on an episode of the Core Reminiscence podcast, and on stage with writer and inventive technologist Stephanie Riggs throughout a dialog on the AWE USA 2025 convention. From these conversations, we’ve detailed probably the most fascinating details about Anduril’s upcoming army XR headset.
Eagle Eye
Luckey mentioned that Anduril’s upcoming army XR system is codenamed ‘Eagle Eye’. The purpose is to construct an entire helmet substitute (with built-in XR capabilities) for troopers, relatively than merely an add-on system that will be worn or connected to standard-issue helmets.
“Eagle Eye is not only a head mounted show. It’s a fully-integrated ballistic shell, with listening to safety, imaginative and prescient safety, head safety, on-board compute, on-board networking, radios… and in addition imaginative and prescient augmentation techniques… sensor techniques that improve your notion,” Luckey mentioned on Core Reminiscence. “And what we’re doing is working with Meta to take the constructing blocks that they’ve invested huge quantities of cash and experience in, and we’re ready to make use of these constructing blocks in Eagle Eye with out having to recreate them from scratch ourselves.”
Extra particularly, he defined at AWE that, “Eagle Eye is just not one head mounted show. It’s really a platform for constructing imaginative and prescient augmentation techniques. We’re constructing totally different variations as a result of you have got totally different individuals who have totally different roles. The man who’s a front-line infantryman being shot at has a unique job than the man who’s a logistician, or plane maintainer, or anyone who works in a warehouse. The sphere-of-view they want, the extent of ballistic score they want—it’s very very totally different. So Eagle Eye is definitely a platform for internet hosting a number of imaginative and prescient augmentation techniques.”
Whereas not many technical specifics have been shared to this point, Luckey talked about the headset makes use of a number of microdisplays per-eye. That tells us the headset might be a passthrough AR headset relatively than clear. That may appear shocking, (contemplating the necessity for battlefield consciousness) however he repeatedly emphasises the purpose of the helmet providing larger notion for troopers by augmentation, relatively than much less.
Luckey admitted that the multi-microdisplay structure leads to a visual seam within the peripheral picture (which jogs my memory of an previous ultrawide field-of-view headset prototype from Panasonic).
He mentioned the seam wouldn’t be acceptable for the patron market, however as a result of the headset is being constructed as a device to maintain folks alive, the tradeoff is price it.
“One of many issues we’re doing with eagle eye is utilizing a number of microdisplays per-eye, with a tiled seam. And so you find yourself with this small little sort of distorted seam that’s dwelling out in your peripheral view. And you’ll see it actually simply. It’s there. It doesn’t trouble you. It doesn’t make you sick. Nevertheless it’s undoubtedly there,” he instructed host Ashlee Vance. “Apple [for example] can’t make one thing like that [because it wouldn’t be acceptable to the consumer market]. They will’t make a factor the place there’s a seamless magical expertise, aside from this bizarre distorted bubble seam down either side of your imaginative and prescient in your periphery. However for a device [like Eagle Eye] you are able to do that… it’s not really an issue.”
As for value, at AWE Luckey advised that the headset might value in extra of $10,000.
“[The US military] would relatively have one thing that’s considerably extra performant even when it’s considerably costlier. Now I’m not saying we should always cost the federal government some obscene value, but when they’ll select between a $1,000 sensor that lets them see issues which might be twice as far, or a $100 sensor that has half the vary, each time they’re going to make the selection for the $1,000 sensor, as a result of the price of dropping that soldier or failing the mission is a lot increased than the price of that headset,” he mentioned. “So what’s enjoyable for me—from a tech perspective—is we’re in a position to construct a headset that prices tens of hundreds of {dollars} to make. We are able to load it with picture sensors which might be nicer than even Apple would put in one thing just like the Imaginative and prescient Professional. We are able to afford to place extraordinarily high-end shows in it which might be far past what the patron market would moderately bear in the present day.”
With no shopper value restriction, Luckey mentioned Eagle Eye could have some specs which might be considerably past something that’s obtainable on the patron market in the present day.
“Eagle Eye is gonna be the most effective AR and VR system that’s ever been made; it’s not even shut. We’re operating at a very excessive framerate and terribly excessive decision. I’d inform you the specs however sadly the client doesn’t need me to at this level,” Luckey instructed Stephanie Riggs at AWE. “However I’ll inform you it’s a number of instances increased decision in functionality than even Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. There’s nothing within the shopper market that’s going to have the ability to meet it the place it’s, as a result of I’ve a unique set of necessities. I’m not making an leisure system you purchase at Finest Purchase, I’m constructing a device that retains you alive. And that’s one thing the Military is prepared to pay for.”
He additionally emphasised not simply the helmet’s XR tech but additionally the combination of synthetic intelligence, likening the top purpose being “within the vein of Cortana,” the artificially clever sidekick of Grasp Chief (the hero from the Halo franchise).
“[…talking about Iron Man’s sci-fi armor suit] it wasn’t simply the swimsuit proper? It was additionally the augmented imaginative and prescient paired with [some] sort of AI guardian angel within the type of Jarvis; that’s what we have been constructing. Eagle Eye has an onboard AI guardian angel, perhaps much less within the model of Jarvis and extra within the vein of Cortana from Halo, however this concept of getting this ever-present companion who can function techniques, who can talk with others, which you could offload duties onto, that’s searching for you with extra eyes than you could possibly ever look out for your self, proper there in your helmet—that’s such a strong factor to make actual.”
One of many key capabilities of the headset includes risk detection, Luckey mentioned at AWE.
“Eagle Eye has a 360° risk consciousness system… that is ready to detect drone threats, vehicular threats, threats on foot, and routinely categorize ‘what’s a risk and what’s not’ after which current that to you.”
Additional, he spoke of the AI as a option to make all the helmet’s capabilities straightforward to make use of with out overwhelming the wearer.
“You shouldn’t be toggling between 10 totally different sensor menus. You must simply see seamless view that’s constructed by sort of an AI interpolator that appears out into the world and says ‘okay nicely I do know he most likely needs to see all the scorching human signatures, I do know he most likely needs to see all of the drones…’ you may construct expertise that’s clear to the person,” mentioned Luckey. “[…] perhaps I’m not the man to argue that the tech is straightforward to make use of as a result of I’m a hardcore technohead from delivery and I can function wacky stuff. However you may put it on a standard individual… they’ll look out into the world and do issues and see issues with zero coaching that they by no means would have been in a position to do in any other case. I’m not involved about data overload as a result of I’m [confident in our ability to build the right tool for the job].”
Relating to manufacturing, Luckey mentioned the Eagle Eye XR helmet will likely be constructed within the US or with US allies, with “no Chinese language elements,” as a matter of operational safety. He expects the primary prototypes of Eagle Eye this 12 months, and says the corporate already has working prototypes.
“We’re gonna be delivering the primary prototypes to the military this 12 months. That’s the intent anyway, if all goes in accordance with plan in the way in which that I hope,” he instructed Vance. “However we’ve been engaged on the expertise that underpins Eagle Eye for years. And we’ve been making a extremely severe {hardware} effort for over a 12 months at this level. And so really there’s an Eagle Eye sitting on my desk again at my workplace proper now.”
Reunion with Meta and Zuckerberg
However how did Luckey go from having his VR startup (Oculus) acquired by Meta, then getting fired from Meta for political backlash, beginning a army expertise firm (Anduril), elevating it to a valuation of billions, after which find yourself partnering as soon as once more with the corporate that had booted him out?
Effectively, by Luckey’s telling, it began final 12 months when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg supplied a quote to an article about Luckey that was surprisingly conciliatory. That openness from Zuckerberg (and outright apology from Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth) opened the door to a renewed relationship.
“We ended up reconnecting [after the article], speaking about a few of the issues which might be happening with America, a few of the inefficiencies that exist for awful causes… how there are people who find themselves dying needlessly due to boundaries between our expertise trade and our nationwide safety group,” Luckey mentioned on the Core Reminiscence podcast. “We ended up deciding that this was one thing that we wanted to work on collectively. Meta’s been doing much more on the nationwide safety entrance; they’ve been working much more work with the federal government.”
Luckey says he’s moved on from any anger he harbored for his firing by Meta, saying that it’s a unique firm than it was these 9 years in the past—not simply culturally, but additionally lots of the folks advocating for his ousting are now not working at Meta.
Luckey sees the partnership as a win for Anduril (because it doesn’t have to rebuild key XR expertise), whereas saving the American taxpayer from paying for tech that already exists within the personal sector.
“[…] there’s quite a lot of issues in Meta that I invented, my crew invented, earlier than they acquired [Oculus]. There’s different issues that I invented, that the crew invented, whereas I used to be at Fb (now Meta). And there was a bunch of expertise that was invented after I used to be fired,” he defined to Vance. “And this partnership is about taking that total base of expertise and IP—round {hardware}, software program, in AI, VR, AR house—and making use of it to fixing our army’s most urgent challenges. It’s taking quite a lot of the individuals who have been engaged on these applied sciences for shopper functions and adapting their work to resolve nationwide safety issues at a really low value to the taxpayer.”
Luckey says the partnership will permit Anduril to construct “the world’s finest” XR tech for the US authorities and allies.
Alternatively, he mentioned that the main points of the partnership with the likes of Meta and Qualcomm imply that future improvements will hopefully trickle again to the patron aspect.
“The best way I see that is: the tech that we’re constructing—working with companions like Qualcomm and Meta—they’re going to have the ability to deliver again into their shopper gadgets. And that’s the way in which our licensing settlement works,” he instructed Riggs. “The tech that we co-develop collectively… I’m the man who’s going to be deploying it to the army; they’re going to be the folks taking it again into the patron realm.”
It’ll be a while but till we all know extra about what Eagle Eye really seems like and the way it works, however there might be some overlap with Microsoft’s prototype IVAS system, as that’s the helmet that Eagle Eye is being constructed to switch.
