Meta has unveiled Aria Gen 2, the latest part of its research-focused smart glasses, bringing several improvements such as heart rate measurement. These new smart glasses have a PPG sensor in the nosepad to track your heart rate—one of the first to do it.
The Aria Gen 2 glasses have an improved sensor suite that includes an RGB camera, 6DOF SLAM cameras for spatial tracking, eye tracking cameras, spatial microphones, IMUs, a barometer, a magnetometer, and GNSS for location tracking. Meta’s custom chips power on-device features like SLAM, eye and hand tracking, and speech recognition, with no cloud access needed.
In terms of usability, the new glasses weigh approximately 75 grams and offer 6-8 hours of continuous use. Like every other pair of glasses on this planet, they have foldable arms for portability. The audio features open-ear speakers with noise cancellation for feedback and a contact mic that picks up your voice while filtering out background noise.
Aria Gen 2 isn’t built for consumers, but it’s pushing research forward in AI, robotics, and accessibility. Envision, for example, is testing it to help blind and low-vision people navigate indoors.
Meta plans to make Aria Gen 2 available to academic and commercial research partners in the coming months. Researchers interested in accessing the device can sign up for updates. The introduction of heart rate monitoring in Aria Gen 2 means people who are not big fans of smartwatches may decide to get rid of them.