Facebook of future could connect to your BRAIN as firm buys ‘mind-reading machines’ start-up CTRL-labs
FACEBOOK has bought a start-up company that is developing brain-computer interfaces.
The acquisition is another step that the social media giant is taking to explore how computers could decode electrical signals and allow us to browse the digital world with just our brains.
CTRL-labs is the company that Facebook acquired.
It designs non-invasive machines that read brain signals, meaning nothing would actually have to be inserted into your brain for it to work.
Brainwave reading tech would be revolutionary for many reasons including helping amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their mind.
It also has the potential to help people that can't speak turn brain signals into words or phrases and Facebook recently partnered with scientists at the University of California San Francisco to prove just that.
CTRL-labs will join the Facebook Reality Labs team, which is focused on producing consumer-ready virtual and augmented reality products.
VP of AR/VR at Facebook explained the acquisition on his Facebook page.
He said: "We know there are more natural, intuitive ways to interact with devices and technology. And we want to build them.
"It’s why we’ve agreed to acquire CTRL-labs.
"They will be joining our Facebook Reality Labs team where we hope to build this kind of technology, at scale, and get it into consumer products faster.
"The vision for this work is a wristband that lets people control their devices as a natural extension of movement."
The terms of Facebook's acquisition of CTRL-labs have not been disclosed.
However, Dan Ives, managing director in Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, told us: "We believe given this space and propriety technology we would estimate the price tag in the $1billion (£800million) area code."
Earlier this year Facebook created a sensory wristband called ‘Tasbi' which has been designed to give vibrations, squeezes and visual illusions to its wearers.
The 'haptic feedback' prototype should be worn on both wrists and can make users feel like they're holding an invisible object.
How the brain reading wristband would work
Here's a brief explanation...
- Neurons in your spinal cord send electrical signals to your hand muscles telling them to move in specific ways
- This occurs when you do any hand movements including simple tasks like pressing a button or clicking a mouse
- The wristband will aim to decode those signals and translate them into a digital signal that the device you're using can understand
- Facebook thinks this will give people more control over digital life
- Things like sharing a photo with a friend could soon become possible just with a simple movement
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What do you think of these mind reading machines? Let us know in the comments...
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