Facebook has unveiled its vision for a wristband that will control its upcoming glasses for augmented reality, which is the latest step in the social media venture’s attempt to tackle Apple in the next generation of computers.
The band, which can interpret complex hand movements via sensors that pick up the nerve signals of electric motor in the wrist, will allow the wearers to communicate with the virtual world projected through their glasses, with subtle finger movements or ‘intelligent clicks’.
In the longer term, Facebook hopes that the technology will enable users to move or manipulate virtual objects covered in the real world, for example, typing on a virtual keyboard.
“One of the most difficult problems in augmented reality is input,” said Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer of Facebook. “From punch cards to keyboards to mice to touch screens, new computer platforms have been defined by how we deal with them.”
Facebook’s portable technology is part of the company’s efforts to spread its revenue beyond advertising © Facebook
The world’s largest social media company has been working on its first smart glasses for years, which, according to founder Mark Zuckerberg, will be ubiquitous by the end of the decade. Preliminary headphones are expected to be released later this year, though limited.
Schroepfer did not want to set a timeline for the wristband, but said researchers were “excited about the ability to fix it. [technical] problems in the coming years ”.
Technical companies such as Apple and Fitbit, which are currently owned by Google, have been offering smartwatches and wristbands for several years to track fitness and receive smartphone notifications. But Facebook is the first Big Tech company to propose using such wristbands as an input system for AR and virtual reality.
Other designers of VR and AR systems have suggested a range of ways to control their headsets, from video game controllers to rings or even voice commands.
Facebook said it believes the system is better because wristbands are more comfortable and intuitive to use, while voice commands can be distorted by background noise or heard by others.
With machine learning, technology can adapt to each user by monitoring their behavior to better predict what they want to do in the future.
“The system learns something about your location and important objects, such as your running shoes or activity recognition,” said Tanya Jonker, research science manager at Facebook’s Reality Labs, the team of researchers and engineers overseeing its AR and VR work. said.
‘And it’s learned that in the past you often launched your music app when you left home with your shoes on. Then you will be asked if you want to play music, and you can confirm it with just one click. ”
Facebook hopes wristband technology enables carriers to manipulate virtual world-covered objects, such as keyboards © Facebook
Facebook has long said that its efforts in AR are within its core mission to enrich users’ social experiences. This comes as the company continues to diversify its revenue beyond advertising. Non-advertising revenue, which includes sales of its popular Oculus VR headphones, amounted to $ 1.8 billion in 2020, an increase of 72 percent year-over-year.
But news about the portable developments is also the next step in the race against iPhone and laptop maker Apple to build the next computer platform outside of the smartphone.
Apple, which also competes with Facebook in messaging, has invested heavily in space. It is understood that the first headphones will be launched next year. The device could add to what is already a million-dollar business for Apple that makes iPhone accessories, such as the smartwatch and AirPods headphones.
In 2018, Facebook added hundreds of staff members to its AR hardware development team, and a year later spent $ 1 billion acquiring CTRL-Labs, a new company that develops technology to allow people to control electronic devices with their brains.
Nicholas Colonnese, a research science manager at Facebook’s Reality Labs, said the company had also built ‘more than a dozen prototypes’ of wristbands that return information to carriers through pre-programmed vibrations and printing, with mixed success.
In addition to the technical issues of AR, Facebook could pop up against privacy issues following numerous scandals over the personal information of its users. The company said it encourages researchers to publish their work in peer-reviewed journals and hold ethics workshops.