Facebook has acquired startup CTRL-Labs, famous for its wristband that lets humans “control machines with their minds.”
The social network will pay between $500 million and $1 billion for access to a bracelet that translates neuron activity into digital signals, according to Bloomberg.
“We spend a lot of time trying to get our technology to do what we want rather than enjoying the people around us,” Andrew Bosworth, vice president of AR/VR at Facebook, wrote in an announcement. “We know there are more natural, intuitive ways to interact with devices and technology. And we want to build them.”
Enter CTRL-Labs.
The four-year-old firm—as well as its dozens of employees and tens of million in venture capital—is set to join the Facebook Reality Labs team, which works on augmented and virtual reality products.
“The vision for this work is a wristband that lets people control their devices as a natural extension of movement,” Bosworth explained.
Neurons in your spinal cord send electrical signals to your hand muscles, telling them to move in specific ways: click a mouse, press a button, etc. But what if a wearable could decode those signals and transform them into a digital motion your smart device can understand?
That’s what CTRL-Labs’ neural interface platform does.
“It captures your intention,” Bosworth said, “so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to.”
This technology, as Bloomberg pointed out, could one day be useful in AR glasses or other virtual goods.
“Technology like this has the potential to open up new creative possibilities and reimagine 19th century inventions in a 21st century world,” Bosworth added. “This is how our interactions in VR and AR can one day look. It can change the way we connect.”
This isn’t an ideal time for Facebook to go on a spending spree: The company is currently the focus of two separate U.S. antitrust investigations. Any acquisitions will be under scrutiny from regulators who are already questioning whether the social media giant is too powerful.
Facebook told Bloomberg it will work with supervisory bodies to secure all needed approvals.
“CTRL-Labs’ technology is an innovative input that … will be used to significantly improve the upcoming Facebook AR/VR experiences a few years down the road to fundamentally improve the user experience,” the spokesperson said.
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