It is already known that Facebook is a billionaire company that aims to connect people worldwide. Facebook is by now the biggest social media used by more than 2.5 billion people. Since its creation, the company have linked people across countries and it gives the opportunity to enhance human socialization. Through this invention was possible to make new friends and be part of your family and friends lives without boundaries to limited humans relationship.
However, Facebook is now leading a new perspective to connect people and a new way to use the social medias. The company have been working with brain computer interface (BMI) to achieve the goal of typing 100 words per minute, which will be 5x faster than the tradition typing on phone used nowadays by hands. The hands free project is ambitious and for sure will change human behaviour and the way we interact in society. In the future we will message our friends only by thinking the words we want to say it.
Furthermore, Facebook aims to connect the BMI technology that has been created on their research lab with virtual and augmented reality, VR and AR, respectively. They purpose in to use VR and AR as a new way to interact in social media, and control those devices by thought. Using the brain as an input to command machine, will be more natural and faster than we have today. By doing that, talking to your friend in the virtual environment who is across the world will be as real as if he/she were standing close to you.
The BMI is a technology that was invented its concept in 1973 by Jacques J. Vidal. According to Vidal and the leaders on BMI nowadays, it can be defined as a technology that aims to connect the human brain to machine, as a new input to machines without the need of muscular commands. BMI have been used especially on research and for clinical use, as instance as, paraplegic and quadriplegic people, locked in disease and amputees. That is justify because of its technology that has some limitation, and need to be improved in order to spread BMI in everyday life.
As was explained by Regina Dugan, the leader researcher of the Facebook project. They will not decode the brain waves, instead of that, the researchers will use non invasive technique through a wearable device that will be able to use a silent speech interface. Using this technology, Facebook aims to deliver their users to type by their thoughts in virtual worlds using VR and AR.
The Facebook perspective for the next 10 years will be to link a different and diverse platform that will combine BMI, VR, AR, AI and connectivity. To achieve that objective Facebook have already bought the CTRLS LAB startup, that works developing BMI technologies. They also have bought Oculus rift, Instagram, whatsapp, and are creating new technologies to develop realistic avatars, developing VR hardwares to capture high quality scenes like the Surround 360 camera, and creating the Facebook space which is a social media on VR.
Reference:
[1] Tech Facebook. Imagining a new interface: Hands-free communication without saying a word, 2019. Retrieved from:
https://tech.fb.com/imagining-a-new-interface-hands-free-communication-without-saying-a-word/
[2] Tech Facebook. Facebook is building the future of connection with lifelike avatars, 2019. Retrieved from:
https://tech.fb.com/codec-avatars-facebook-reality-labs/
[3] Facebook Spaces: A New Way To Connect With Friends In VR. Retrieved from: https://about.fb.com/news/2017/04/facebook-spaces/
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