Facebook unveils vision for augmented reality wristband controllers

Facebook has presented its concept for wristbands to control augmented-reality glasses it is working on as the social media giant targets diversification into the next generation of computing hardware and software. The wristband prototypes revealed are designed to pick up and interpret hand movements with sensors capturing electrical motor nerve signals in the wrist.

That information will allow subtle hand and finger movements to control augmented reality overlays and allow wearers to interact with the virtual world they will see when wearing the glasses. Eventually that could lead to new ranges of products such as virtual keyboards and possibly even entirely virtual computers.

Source: Facebook

Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer explains the significance and role of the wristbands concept with:

“One of the hardest problems in augmented reality is input. From punch cards to keyboards to mice to touchscreens, new computing platforms were defined by how we interact with them.”

Until now Facebook has never meaningfully pursued a new business that isn’t part of or connected to its social media platform. But the company has been quietly working on augmented reality technology in the background for a number of years now. Co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is convinced AR technology will be mainstream and part of our everyday lives by the end of the current decade.

Facebook’s first AR headset, still with limited capabilities in terms of what is expected to follow over future years, is expected to be released later this year. When the wristband controllers will be added to the hardware stack is not yet clear, with Schroepfer studiously avoiding the laying out of a timeline. He would only say the researchers working on the project were “excited for the ability to solve these [technical] problems in the coming years”.

Facebook is, as far as is known, the first company to focus on wristbands as the method of input and control for augmented and virtual reality headsets and glasses. Other designers have looked at options including video-game style controllers, voice command and even rings.

But Facebook is convinced wristbands will be more comfortable an intuitive to use. Voice commands may also have a place but their drawback as the primary or only method of input is the risk of background noise interfering and the need to create noise, which may not be suitable in every environment. Commands could also be overheard when that may not always be desirable.

Machine learning is expected to allow wristbands to ‘learn’ how to interpret movements on the level of individual user. Tanya Jonker, research science manager at Facebook’s Reality Labs, which overseas the company’s AR and VR work explains:

“The system learns something about your location and key objects, like your running shoes or activity recognition. And it learns that, in the past, you’ve often launched your music app when you leave your house with those shoes on. Then, it asks you if you’d like to play your music, and allows you to confirm it with just a click.”

Facebook’s ultimate ambition is to build the next generation computing platform that will eventually replace the smartphone. Apple is considered Facebook’s greatest rival in the AR/VR space and has invested heavily in developing headsets. The first commercial Apple headset is rumoured as potentially being launched next year.

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 send information back to wearers through pre-programmed vibrations and squeezes, with mixed success.

Technical difficulties will inevitably eventually be overcome given the level of investment in the technology and international experts that have been hired to work on it. Personal privacy concerns around the new technology may prove to be a harder challenge to overcome, with Facebook’s reputation on users’ personal information not in particularly high standing after several historical controversies.