Researchers at Meta have developed a wristwatch-style tool that can interact with devices using hand gestures — or even a thought.
As the company detailed in a blog post, the Bluetooth device lets users control a computer with their “hand resting comfortably at [their] side.” It allows the user to do obvious things like move a cursor around, but users can also type out messages by writing out the letters in the air.
The device operates using “surface electromyography,” a non-invasive way to track the electrical activity of muscles.
“Based on our findings, we believe that surface electromyography (sEMG) at the wrist is the key to unlocking the next paradigm shift in human-computer interaction (HCI),” the company said in the blog post.
Meta researchers also published a research paper about the device in the Nature science journal, which explained the new technology in slightly more complex terms — “Here, we describe the development of a generic non-invasive neuromotor interface that enables computer input decoded from surface electromyography (sEMG).”
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According to Meta researchers, this breakthrough is possible in large part because of machine learning and AI.
“Our neural networks are trained on data from thousands of consenting research participants, which makes them highly accurate at decoding subtle gestures across a wide range of people,” the Meta blog post stated.
In fact, Meta said this process was so effective that the device can even recognize your intent to perform a gesture, which could let you control a device simply by thinking. As Thomas Reardon, one of the authors of the Meta research paper, told the New York Times, “You don’t have to actually move…You just have to intend the move.”
The wrist device could make computers more accessible to people with mobility challenges. That’s because the device seems much less invasive than something like Neuralink, given that Meta’s device doesn’t require something to be implanted directly in your brain.
Of course, Meta’s blog post didn’t give the device a name, price, or release date. It seems much more experimental in nature than something that’s intended for mass market adoption in the near future. We’ll keep you posted if that changes.