Facebook Opens Hardware R&D Lab in Silicon Valley
Facebook, one of the most popular – if not the most popular social media platform has just opened its doors to reveal their new 22,000 square-foot hardware research and development lab in Silicon Valley for their engineers. Investing more than ever in hardware development, engineers across Facebook teams will be able to work on new projects, from future versions of Oculus to new components for their data centers.
Given the name, “Area 404” – it is equipped with industrial machines that look like they are more likely to be in a factory rather than Facebook’s headquarters. Milling machines, electron microscopes and water jet cutters are among the enormous equipment that are available for engineers to use on a daily basis.
To fit these machines into the space, the building specifically modified to accommodate such equipment. The floor was completely removed to fit 100 pylons 60 feet below the bedrock, which was reinforced with rebar and 3 feet of concrete to hold the floor in place.
With all the engineers under one roof to work with all these new machines – it is hopeful that the teams will be able to build more products than ever before (which should be possible considering most work done was by third-party partners). Prototypes for the future version of Oculus will be researched and created in the lab, as well as the Surround 360 VR camera. Not to forget, that Facebook’s solar-powered drone, Acquila, will get some work done as well.
Our engineers here at Beyond Design think that Facebook is doing an amazing job working with their engineers to give them more opportunities to work on projects. The equipment that they get to use is awesome and we can’t wait to see what new things will be coming out of this hardware R&D lab.
To learn more on our user experience capabilities, please 
Top
