Facebook acquires CTRL-Labs, a neural monitoring start-up

Andrew Bosworth, of Facebook, vice president of augmented reality and virtual reality divisions of the company, announced the acquisition in a social media post. The startup based in New York will be part of Facebook Reality Labs, the AR and VR division of the social media company, formerly known as Oculus Research. Bosworth said the goal was to "build this type of technology on a large scale" and "integrate it more quickly into consumer products".

The flagship product of CTRL-lab is a wrist-worn device that measures the activity of neurons in a subject, and then imitates the same movement on a computer screen. The device manufactured by CTRL-labs does not read the thoughts nor detect the neural impulses. Instead, it captures electrical impulses from the muscle fibers as they move, such as an EMG bracelet. The computer then mimics the movement on the screen. The company claims to have extended this ability to individual muscle cells. In other words, you will not have to physically move your arm to move the arm to the screen. You'll only have to think about physically moving your arm.

Bosworth wrote that the project was aimed at a wristband allowing users to control their devices as a natural extension of movement: "You have neurons in the spinal cord that send electrical signals to the muscles in your hand, telling them to click on a mouse The bracelet will decode these signals and translate them into a digital signal that your device can understand, allowing you to control your digital life.It records your intention so you can share a photo with a friend with imperceptible movement or simply by, well, the intention of. "

Facebook has been working for some time on brain computer projects. In 2017, he had announced the development of brain-computer interfaces allowing users to type in using their minds. This may seem to be another example of real life mimicking the events of Black mirror, the technology is still in its infancy. The company itself admitted this summer to the F8 that the technology was "bulky, slow and unreliable" and did not expect it to be ready to be used by consumers for several years .