Facebook Inc on Monday said it had made a deal to buy a start-up working on ways to command computers or other devices using thought instead of taps, swipes or keystrokes.
New York-based CTRL-Labs is to become part of Facebook Reality Labs, with an aim at perfecting the technology and getting it into consumer products, said Andrew Bosworth, vice president of augmented and virtual reality at the California-based social network.
“We know there are more natural, intuitive ways to interact with devices and technology,” Bosworth said in a post at Facebook announcing the acquisition.
“And we want to build them. The vision for this work is a wristband that lets people control their devices as a natural extension of movement,” he added.
The wristband will decode electrical impulses such as those sent to hand muscles telling them to move certain ways, such as clicking a computer mouse or pressing a button, he said.
The wristband will translate impulses into signals a device can comprehend, having thoughts rather than mouse clicks or button presses prompt actions on computers, according to Facebook.
“It captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to,” Bosworth said.
“Technology like this has the potential to open up new creative possibilities and reimagine 19th-century inventions in a 21st century world,” he said.
He spoke of how thought-commanded interactions might dramatically alter how people experience augmented or virtual-reality scenarios, which currently feature handheld controls.
Facebook did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy CTRL-Labs, but unconfirmed media reports said it paid more than US$500 million.
After Facebook bought virtual-reality gear start-up Oculus in early 2014 in a deal valued at US$2 billion, social network cofounder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg heralded the technology as the next major computing platform.
Oculus has since built a line of virtual-reality gear, pushing down the price and eliminating the need to be plugged in to a computer with its Quest VR headset.
In early 2017, Facebook announced projects aimed at allowing users to use their minds to type messages or their skin to hear words.
The projects were the focus of a team of scientists, engineers and system integrators with a goal of “creating a system capable of typing 100 words-per-minute straight from your brain,” Facebook said at the time.
Such brain-computer interface technology currently involves implanting electrodes. However, Facebook wanted to use sensors that could be worn to eliminate the need to surgically intrude on the brain.
Such technology could for example let people fire off text messages or e-mails by thinking, instead of needing to interrupt what they are doing to use smartphone touchscreens.
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