Man, where do I even start? Palmer Luckey. You know, the guy who kickstarted Oculus back in like 2012 with all those virtual reality headsets? Well, he’s teamed up with Meta—formerly Facebook—to, uh, create what they say will be the absolute best AR and VR systems for the US military. Yeah, that’s a twist if I ever heard one! Makes you wonder what his docuseries is gonna look like, right? Anyway, back to the story…
So, Oculus grabbed Meta’s attention and they shelled out over $2 billion for it in 2014. Big bucks, huh? Luckey stayed with them for a while, just doing his VR thing until—bam—stuff hit the fan over his political stuff, and he was shown the door. After that, the dude just dives straight into tech-defense world, creating Anduril. Ever heard of them? They’re another big shot now, apparently valued in the billions. Crazy how life twists!
They haven’t ignored his VR roots either. Anduril’s been cooking up XR tech besides their drones and sensors. (Can you imagine being in a room full of drones? Creepy hum of tech, I bet.) Oh, and the kicker? They snagged Microsoft’s IVAS project—those AR helmets for soldiers. So maybe Luckey’s making literal magic helmets for the army now? Wild, right?
So now, Anduril is getting all buddy-buddy with Meta to make these AR/VR thingamajigs for troops. The pitch? Enhancing soldier senses and stuff on the battlefield—I mean, no pressure, just saving the military a cool few billion by using off-the-shelf tech. They’re not even using taxpayer bucks for this. Kind of makes you wonder how that works, but I’m no financial guru.
Luckey himself? He’s over the moon about getting back with Meta. Says he’s into making technowizards out of soldiers. I mean, sure, why not? If you can’t beat the drones, join ’em, I guess? And those quotes from Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Bosworth—yeah, talks of bygones being bygones. Funny how things come full circle.
And where’s this collaboration headed? Looks like they’re focused on those IVAS headsets—big wonder, seeing as that sucker is said to be a $20 billion program. Microsoft had a go but now Anduril, with Meta’s high-tech wizardry, is stepping up. Maybe next time they’ll try tech for mind-reading? Who knows where this tech stuff will take us next.
Anyway, I digress. Luckey’s doing all these innovative things while making a comeback with Meta. Feels like an epic saga unrolling, doesn’t it? Let’s see where this winding road takes them.
