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Assuming that CTRL
Facebook has just acquired the CTRL start-up laboratories of the mind control interface for an amount that could have been close to a billion dollars, according to Bloomberg.
The startup was developing a special wristband that allows users to control virtual avatars with only brain activity – a new category of input devices that does not rely on a keyboard or mouse. Bloomberg suggested that Facebook might someday pair technology with augmented or virtual reality glasses.
Outside help
Facebook has been working for several years on its own brain-computer interface. Announced for the first time at its F8 conference in 2017, the non-invasive portable device is designed to allow users to type one day by simply imagining how to talk.
But the CTRL-lab bracelet is not as ambitious as that. Technically, he is not able to read your thoughts. Instead, it detects tiny electrical pulses from muscle fibers in your arm, for example, and translates these signals into motion on a screen.
Detect pulses
The acquisition highlights the considerable difficulties in developing a brain signal reading device that does not require invasive surgery.
It also comes at an interesting regulatory time. Attorneys General of several US states announced earlier this month that they were opening antitrust investigations on Facebook, which would certainly keep acquisitions such as this one under critical surveillance.
READ MORE: Facebook acquires CTRL-Labs, a neural monitoring start-up[[[[Engadget]
More information on Facebook's brain-computer interface: Zuckerberg: Facebook builds a machine to read your thoughts
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