Facebook buys start-up working on ‘neural’ bracelet
Facebook has acquired New York startup CTRL-Labs. The startup is working on a bracelet with which computers can convert muscle impulses into a digital signal. This allows users to control computers and other devices with their thoughts.
Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s VR and AR divisions, announced the acquisition in a post on Facebook. CTRL-Labs will become part of the Facebook Reality Labs team. What Facebook paid for the company has not been disclosed, but CNBC sources say the amount is between $500 million and $1 billion. Converted this is about 455 to 910 million euros.
CTRL-Labs was founded in New York in 2015 by Thomas Reardon. Reardon is a neuroscientist and previously worked as a developer at Microsoft. There he was the person responsible for the first versions of Internet Explorer.
The so-called CTRL kit. Photo via CTRL-Labs.
CTRL-Labs is working on a neural bracelet that measures muscle activity and thus mimics movement on a computer screen. The device does not read thoughts and therefore does not measure direct neural impulses. CTRL labs’ product instead uses electromyography, where the bracelet measures the electrical activity of muscles. Users have activity from neurons in their spine. These send electrical signals to hand muscles instructing them to move in a certain way. The bracelet can interpret these impulses and convert them into a digital signal.
The CTRL-Labs product claims to be able to do this with individual muscle cells. This means you don’t have to make any actual movements to control your device when using the ‘CTRL kit’. Bosworth states that in this way you can “share a photo with a friend with barely perceptible movement, or even just thinking about it.” How this works in practice remains to be seen. An early version of the bracelet is available to developers on the CTRL-Labs website, but there is currently a waiting list of unknown duration.
The bracelet from CTRL-Labs may be combined with the AR glasses that Facebook is working on. The company is reportedly aiming to launch these glasses in 2024 to replace the smartphone. The company wants the ‘neural’ bracelet produce ‘on some scale’ in order to get the product to the poor of consumers as quickly as possible.