Proper tongue tracking won’t be a standard feature on Meta Quest anytime soon, Meta’s CTO hints. But AI could help.
In his recent AMA on Instagram, Andrew Bosworth was asked about tongue tracking support and said:
“Tongue tracking is difficult without a camera positioned far down your face and pointing into your mouth.” And we lack one of those. I’m not sure if we’ll receive one of those. It doesn’t fit very well into the headset. Could you provide some sort of external dongle that performed it? Maybe. It would still appear hostile. And I’m not sure how well it would sell. I’m not sure whether it’s worth it, is the response.
I’m not saying tongue tracking isn’t visible, especially as the game becomes more realistic. Can we better estimate tongue position based on what we’re hearing audibly? That may be one of the tales. Can we see your tongue if you stick it out? Maybe that’s possible from where the cameras are right now.”
We shouldn’t anticipate enhanced tongue tracking anytime soon, according to Meta’s CTO. However, Bosworth believes that utilizing AI and current tracking cameras, it may one day be able to achieve (rudimentary) tongue tracking. Quest Pro, in fact, already does that.
HTC did it with a sophisticated module
Quest Pro, which already has face tracking, now has software support for tongue tracking via the built-in IR cameras. The headgear, however, merely senses how far the tongue is stretched. There are also just a few programs that allow tongue tracking, such as VRChat via Steam Link.
Developer adoption will not pick up steam until Meta introduces a headgear that makes tracking of the tongue more accessible.
HTC accomplished tongue tracking by including modules in their headsets. In 2021, the business released a facial tracker add-on for the Vive Pro, followed by another module for the Vive Focus 3 in 2022. Brad Lynch uses his avatar to illustrate the previous, now ostensibly discontinued Vive Pro add-on in the first video. Compare that to Quest Pro’s basic tracking in the second video.
