Neural Interfaces in Facebook’s Metaverse
Facebook recently announced plans to rename the company and shift it’s focus towards creating a “metaverse”. Many technologists have rightly pointed to the Oculus division as the new direction the company is headed towards (Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014). Anyone who’s ever tried on the latest Oculus and done the “First Steps” tutorial knows exactly what I mean when I say this: that headset is truly a gateway to a different universe. There is a near ubiquitous reaction of awe and disbelief from anyone using an Oculus for the first time — a testament to how immersive, well-crafted, and game-changing this technology is.
But there’s another group within Facebook that’s been breaking just as much ground in redefining our future relationship with the virtual world: the neural interfaces team. Facebook has done some incredible work into brain computer interfaces (BCIs), even partnering with UCSF to build devices that can allow disabled individuals to speak. However, although impressive, surgically implanting chips into your brain isn’t actually what Facebook is after. Rather, it’s their EMG research that’ll likely make the biggest splash in the BCI market.
Traditional control systems (like video game controllers) require you to use the output of your physical actions to do things like press buttons or move joysticks. But what if your hand motions can…
