Meta Unveils Wristband to Control Devices With Neural Signals

• Meta’s wristband uses sEMG to control computers via muscle signals, no movement needed.
• AI trained on 10,000 volunteers enables instant use without calibration, solving decades-old issues.
• Paired with smart glasses, it offers gesture-based control, with potential for accessibility applications.

Meta has introduced a groundbreaking wristband that uses surface Electromyography to control computers by detecting muscle signals, eliminating the need for physical movement. Detailed in a Nature journal paper, the device, resembling an oversized smart watch, allows users to navigate laptop screens with a wrist turn, launch apps by tapping fingers, or write by tracing letters in the air.

Unlike Neuralink’s invasive brain implants, Meta’s non-invasive technology reads electrical signals from forearm muscles, offering immediate usability. The wristband captures electrical signals from spinal cord neurons before they reach muscle fibers, predicting actions milliseconds in advance. "You don't have to actually move," said Thomas Reardon, Meta’s vice president of research. "You just have to intend the move." By isolating muscle fiber activity at "the atomic level of the nervous system," the device detects intentions through skin, requiring no surgery.

Meta’s AI, trained on data from 10,000 volunteers, identifies common electrical patterns, enabling instant functionality for new users without calibration. "Out of the box, it can work with a new user it has never seen data for," said Patrick Kaifosh, Director of research science at Meta’s Reality Labs. This AI breakthrough overcomes decades-old calibration issues that hindered devices like the Myo armband.

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By using experimental smart glasses, the wristband allows controlling photos, videos, and music using gestures, which suggests that Meta will finally incorporate it into their products, and the first item is smart glasses. There is also potential in the technology in terms of its accessibility as Carnegie Mellon researchers have already tested it on spinal cord injury patients. With little or no movement of the muscles or no movement in the hands, the machine understands what they are intending to do, which provides a new digital interaction avenue to disabled persons.

Meta’s wristband marks a significant leap in mind-control technology, blending AI precision with non-invasive design, poised to transform human-computer interaction.