Facebook is working on some terrible augmented reality hats

Facebook wants to show that it’s down with technology, and is creating some augmented reality headwear that wouldn’t look out of place at any streetwear clothing retailer. Well, except for the fedora, we’re not exactly sure why that exists.

To be honest, we’re not really sure why any of these designs exist. Augmented reality’s main draw is that it’s supposed to overlay on your field of vision, unobtrusively and without interfering with the real world.

These designs in Facebook’s patent application are anything but, with clunky visors that can be folded back up under the brim of the hat that they’re attached to when you don’t want to see them. And, that’s a good thing, because you won’t want to keep them in your vision.

Whether you opt for the baseball cap or the fedora (or the cowboy hat, because Texas), Facebook thinks its headgear is the future of AR, and a solution for the current headsets which are “thick, heavy, and unbalanced and/or may generated excessive heat that is uncomfortable against the user’s skin.”

That’s true enough, and having the visor far enough from the users face could help, but it’s kinda goofy.

I think I’ve seen this design before though, in 1995’s Johnny Mnemonic, when Keanu Reeves had a USB stick implanted in his brain. In the film, Reeves used a visor and some tactile gloves to hack into cyberspace, and oh boy that looks like Facebook’s patent imaginings.

Maybe they’ll look different when they actually release, or maybe Facebook has decided that it’s going to beam AR straight into our brains so we don’t need glasses anymore. Whatever, reality is overrated.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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• Facebook avoided an antitrust case in the US and now the company is worth $1 trillion
• Check out Rec Room, a social VR game where you can become the creator
• Niantic’s new mobile game demo shows the power of 5G paired with augmented reality

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.