Monday, 13 September, 2021 UTC
Summary
Reddit user Reggy04 dug into the Oculus Quest v32 firmware, finding strings referring to ‘Quest Pro’ as well as face and eye tracking.
We obtained the Quest v32 firmware file, decompiled it, and searched it with grep to confirm Reggy’s claims.
The Quest Pro reference appears to be from the Hand Tracking setup process:
QUEST PRO ESTIMATES YOUR HAND SIZE AND HOW THEY MOVE SO YOU USE YOUR HANDS INSTEAD OF CONTROLLERS IN VR.
Quest Pro was first teased by VP of Facebook Reality Labs Andrew Bosworth in a February Instagram Ask Me Anything session. In April, Bosworth said Quest Pro could “introduce new functionality to the headset”, but cautioned it would not ship this year.
Face & Eye Tracking
Calibration text for both face and eye tracking are present. While this doesn’t confirm Quest Pro will have these features, it does suggest Facebook is testing them in real device firmware.
In March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described face & eye tracking as his most wanted feature for future Oculus headsets.
The face tracking calibration asks you to smile, pull an angry face, frown, and then show a surprised expression.
FOLLOW THE TARGET WITH YOUR GAZEEYE CALIBRATION FAILEDEYE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE
It’s unclear whether the system simply detects these four states or whether the exact lip shape is passed to apps, as with HTC’s Vive Pro Facial Tracker.
SMILE NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.SHOW AN ANGRY EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.FROWN NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.SHOW A SURPRISED EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.FAILED TO CALIBRATE THE EXPRESSION. RETRYING…FACE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE
Reggy is not the first to discover eye tracking & face tracking – YouTuber Basti564 found similar references back in June.
Lens Depth Adjustment
Reggy also found a reference to a “depth button” for adjusting the longitudinal distance between the lenses and your eyes:
PRESS AND HOLD THE DEPTH BUTTON AND MOVE THE HEADSET CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR FACE. THE LENSES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO YOUR EYES, BUT NOT CAUSEADJUST LENS DEPTH
Lens depth adjustment, present in headsets like Valve Index, allow the wearer to balance the comfort of pressure with the wider field of view afforded by closer lenses.
A depth button already existed in the PC-based Rift S, but this firmware is for the Android-based Quest range.