Facebook is working on a neural wristband that reads signals from brain to hands, to go along with its AR glasses; Bosworth insists it can't “read your brain”
how we communicate with this new device will be critical. Building this interface demands advances from numerous technological areas and I'm proud of our research teams and the progress we've made: https://tech.fb.com/... https://twitter.com/... Marty Swant / @martyswant : This reminds me of something I wrote about that Facebook announced at F8 way back in 2017, which allowed people to operate computers with their thoughts: https://www.adweek.com/... https://twitter.com/... Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : Reading your nerve signals to recreate your hand. The new tech Facebook is developing for augmented reality is kinda nuts. https://twitter.com/... @producthunt : Facebook is focused on “building an interface for AR that won't force us to choose between interacting with our devices and the world around us.” But why are they focusing on the wrist? https://twitter.com/... Hannah Murphy / @mshannahmurphy : Facebook is developing a wristband that'll allow wearers to interact with the virtual world as seen through smart glasses with subtle finger movements - or “intelligent clicks” It's part of efforts to take on Apple in the next generation of computing: https://www.ft.com/... Janko Roettgers / @jank0 : Had a great conversation with Facebook's hardware head Andrew @boztank Bosworth about what it takes to build a smart interface for AR glasses. Turns out we may have to rethink the idea of a digital assistant. Sorry, Alexa! https://www.protocol.com/... Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : Stuff like this used to make me worried. Now it just makes me sad for the engineers that this (possibly genuinely useful!) tech will likely never see the light of day because FB's privacy track record is so horrible. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Alex Heath / @alexeheath : If this works, Facebook is inventing the next keyboard + mouse https://twitter.com/... @fbrealitylabs : Read more about the research here: https://tech.fb.com/... Tanya Jonker / @trjonker : This week, we gave the world a glimpse inside our labs, inviting journalists from all over the world to learn more about our research. Our tech blog post provides an overview, including our work on adaptive interfaces (featuring quotes from yours truly!) https://tech.fb.com/... Kent Bye VoicesOfVR / @kentbye : 3/ Part 2 of 2 of a @FBrealitylabs video on their “intelligent click” that combines contextually-aware AI with their wrist-based EMG device, customizable neural inputs, & haptics. Their Tech Blog: https://tech.fb.com/... My podcast context & analysis: https://voicesofvr.com/... https://twitter.com/... David Pierce / @pierce : This is a great conversation between @jank0 and @boztank, and I will now forever think about virtual assistants as six-year-olds https://www.protocol.com/... https://twitter.com/... @mattnavarra : Facebook's AR/VR boss @boztank on building AR assistants you won't hate https://www.protocol.com/... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : Facebook is working on a new neural interface wrist device to go along with its AR glasses - it reads the signals sent from your brain to your hand. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
BuzzFeed NewsKatie Notopoulos
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook had already tied its AR-glasses roadmap to a wristband for hand and finger gestures in its 10-year AR vision, while its CTRL-Labs acquisition supplied the underlying bracelet technology. The new work makes input hardware a central companion to the glasses rather than a peripheral experiment.
Facebook links its AR-glasses effort to a neural wristband designed to translate intended hand movements into controls, making the wrist a primary interaction point for the company’s AR hardware.
Bosworth’s public limitation on what the device can infer sets an immediate expectation that the product should be evaluated as hand-input technology, not as a general brain-reading device.
Second-order effects
Facebook’s AR hardware work must now deliver a coordinated glasses-and-wristband experience; gesture recognition and haptic feedback described in its earlier vision become part of the interface package.
The emphasis on a wrist controller gives Facebook a more concrete route to control than the head-mounted brain-typing project that later coverage says it ended, concentrating development around signals associated with hand movement.
Third-order effects
If this design persists, AR interfaces will be differentiated as much by wearable input systems as by displays, with wrist-based sensing becoming a key layer in the hardware stack.
Privacy claims around neural or muscle-derived signals are likely to become part of product positioning for companies building wearable interfaces, because Facebook is already drawing a boundary between motion inference and brain reading.
The trend: AR hardware is moving toward paired wearables in which wrist-based sensing supplies the control layer for glasses.
Here's some mind-blowing technology being developed by @boztank and his team for our AR glasses: wrist-based sensors that let you control devices using the same electrical motor nerve signals you use to move your hands https://tech.fb.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Facebook revealed a plan to let you control augmented reality with your thoughts. It's wristband that can react to nerve signals. Cool, but nobody is ever going to use this tech as long as it's associated with Facebook. They've squandered too much trust https://www.washingtonpost…
I have huge concerns about AR glasses, but I cannot overstate how much I want these armbands (which I was lucky enough to try before Facebook acquired CTRL-Labs) as an input device https://www.theverge.com/...
It's pretty remarkable that Facebook cannot come up with anything remotely convincing to say to the obvious question, “Are you going to harvest and monetize the data this gathers in ways people hate?”
Great work @boztank and the @oculus team! The tech is super impressive, can't wait to see it in action. We all know what happens to that data is the elephant in the room. How about an open pledge/policy on the Facebook site? Something like, say: https://www.apple.com/... https://…
Why the wrist? “...As we explored the possibilities, placing an input device at the wrist became the clear answer: The wrist is a traditional place to wear a watch, meaning it could reasonably fit into everyday life and social contexts...” https://twitter.com/...
This research, along with VR, AR, and a bunch of new technologies, is both incredibly interesting and also entirely too powerful for anyone to be comfortable with FACEBOOK leading the charge on it https://twitter.com/...
@schrep I am keeping an open mind! But it does strike me as tech that would be much more likely to be commercially successful if it came from a trusted entity.
It's an act of faith to wear any computing device on your body. Should we trust a wearable from @Facebook that reads certain signals from your brain? Fascinating piece by @LaurenGoode explains Facebook's wearable project and raises the question. https://twitter.com/...
ElOhEl, the efficiency and utility of AR gadgetry will be inversely correlated with the number, cost and bulkiness of sensors you'd have to wear or carry. https://twitter.com/...
Facebook wants to develop new human-computer interactions. Will we be able to trust it with a new form of personal data? That's one of the things I asked @boztank https://www.wired.com/...
This technology has amazing potential, especially in making devices more accessible. I'm pretty excited about the idea of a full sized keyboard anywhere I go... https://twitter.com/...
AR glasses will enable us to be present and connected—how we communicate with this new device will be critical. Building this interface demands advances from numerous technological areas and I'm proud of our research teams and the progress we've made: https://tech.fb.com/... http…
This reminds me of something I wrote about that Facebook announced at F8 way back in 2017, which allowed people to operate computers with their thoughts: https://www.adweek.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Facebook is focused on “building an interface for AR that won't force us to choose between interacting with our devices and the world around us.” But why are they focusing on the wrist? https://twitter.com/...
Facebook is developing a wristband that'll allow wearers to interact with the virtual world as seen through smart glasses with subtle finger movements - or “intelligent clicks” It's part of efforts to take on Apple in the next generation of computing: https://www.ft.com/...
Had a great conversation with Facebook's hardware head Andrew @boztank Bosworth about what it takes to build a smart interface for AR glasses. Turns out we may have to rethink the idea of a digital assistant. Sorry, Alexa! https://www.protocol.com/...
Stuff like this used to make me worried. Now it just makes me sad for the engineers that this (possibly genuinely useful!) tech will likely never see the light of day because FB's privacy track record is so horrible. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
This week, we gave the world a glimpse inside our labs, inviting journalists from all over the world to learn more about our research. Our tech blog post provides an overview, including our work on adaptive interfaces (featuring quotes from yours truly!) https://tech.fb.com/...
3/ Part 2 of 2 of a @FBrealitylabs video on their “intelligent click” that combines contextually-aware AI with their wrist-based EMG device, customizable neural inputs, & haptics. Their Tech Blog: https://tech.fb.com/... My podcast context & analysis: https://voicesofvr.com/... h…
This is a great conversation between @jank0 and @boztank, and I will now forever think about virtual assistants as six-year-olds https://www.protocol.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Facebook is working on a new neural interface wrist device to go along with its AR glasses - it reads the signals sent from your brain to your hand. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...