Legs are coming to Zuckerberg’s metaverse

By Nathan Drescher Published October 20, 2022

Mark Zuckerberg announced at Meta Connect 2022 that avatars will soon include legs in Horizon Worlds, using the built-in Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro tracking technology. Meta will also include more tools for developers to tie into headset tracking so they, too, can include legs.

“Avatars will be central to how we express ourselves in the future.” Zuckerberg said during the Meta Connect event. Admittedly, the current floating torsos of Horizon Worlds are a little off-putting, so it will be nice to see people with legs.

image: Meta / Meta

The problem thus far as been what Zuckerberg described as occlusion — the inability of the sensors to see your legs when you’re sitting. The AI wasn’t able to guess how your legs looked and Meta felt it was more unsettling to see strange, unnatural legs than no legs at all. Now they’ve tweaked AI somehow and legs are coming.

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Zuckerberg showed off his own avatar, complete with legs clad in jeans. They moved as smoothly as his avatar’s arms so it seems the tech is ready.

The announcement came just after Zuckerberg announced a new avatar store, so you can buy clothing and accessories for your avatar. The screenshots included jeans, skirts, shoes, and some mobility aids such as wheelchairs.

It’s unclear when legs will become available for Horizon Worlds avatars, but we’re hoping soon!

Nathan Drescher

Former Computing Writer

Nathan Drescher is a freelance journalist and writer from Ottawa, Canada. He's been writing about technology from around the…

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