google XR Blocks: Accelerating AI + XR innovation (opens in new tab)
XR Blocks is an open-source, cross-platform framework designed to bridge the technical gap between mature AI development ecosystems and high-friction extended reality (XR) prototyping. By providing a modular architecture and high-level abstractions, the toolkit enables creators to rapidly build and deploy intelligent, immersive web applications without managing low-level system integration. Ultimately, the framework empowers developers to move from concept to interactive prototype across both desktop simulators and mobile XR devices using a unified codebase. ### Core Design Principles * **Simplicity and Readability:** Drawing inspiration from the "Zen of Python," the framework prioritizes human-readable abstractions where a developer’s script reflects a high-level description of the experience rather than complex boilerplate code. * **Creator-Centric Workflow:** The architecture is designed to handle the "plumbing" of XR—such as sensor fusion, AI model integration, and cross-platform logic—allowing creators to focus entirely on user interaction and experience. * **Pragmatic Modularity:** Rather than attempting to be a perfect, all-encompassing system, XR Blocks favors an adaptable and simple architecture that can evolve alongside the rapidly changing fields of AI and spatial computing. ### The Reality Model Abstractions * **The Script Primitive:** Acts as the logical center of an application, separating the "what" of an interaction from the "how" of its underlying technical implementation. * **User and World:** Provides built-in support for tracking hands, gaze, and avatars while allowing the system to query the physical environment for depth, estimated lighting conditions, and object recognition. * **AI and Agents:** Facilitates the integration of intelligent assistants, such as the "Sensible Agent," which can provide proactive, context-aware suggestions within the XR environment. * **Virtual Interfaces:** Offers tools to augment blended reality with virtual UI elements that respond to the user's physical context. ### Technical Implementation and Integration * **Web-Based Foundation:** The framework is built upon accessible, standard technologies including WebXR, three.js, and LiteRT (formerly TFLite) to ensure a low barrier to entry for web developers. * **Advanced AI Support:** It features native integration with Gemini for high-level reasoning and context-aware applications. * **Cross-Platform Deployment:** Developers can prototype depth-aware, physics-based interactions in a desktop simulator and deploy the exact same code to Android XR devices. * **Open-Source Resources:** The project includes a comprehensive suite of templates and live demos covering specific use cases like depth mapping, gesture modeling, and lighting estimation. By lowering the barrier to entry for intelligent XR development, XR Blocks serves as a practical starting point for researchers and developers aiming to explore the next generation of human-centered computing. Interested creators can access the source code on GitHub to begin building immersive, AI-driven applications that function seamlessly across the web and specialized XR hardware.