Facebook is still actively working on brain-reading computers which could involve the use of Facebook AR glasses. The company’s Augmented Reality team are working on a significant update to its brain-computer interface research. The system update means that the system will be able to decode silent speech. Meanwhile, this means the device will be able to read minds without implanting electrodes into our brains.
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The researchers worked in collaboration with the University of California, USA. Recently, they have been working with people already undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy. This has helped them to create an algorithm that was able to decode a small set of words and phrases from brain activity in real-time.
However, Facebook has specified that its approach will be a lot less invasive than what happens with brain surgery patients. Meanwhile, Facebook’s Reality Labs is trying other methods to achieve this feat. This is the arm of the company that does Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality research. In fact, one of it involves trying to detect brain activity by monitoring the oxygen levels in the brain. They use a portable, wearable device to do this.
Facebook Reading Our Minds
According to Facebook, the process is currently, bulky, slow, and unreliable. However, they hope that they can make it a reality with their virtual reality headsets or AR glasses.
In their statement, Facebook said: “While measuring oxygenation may never allow us to decode imagined sentences, being able to recognise even a handful of imagined commands, like ‘home,’ ‘select,’ and ‘delete,’ would provide entirely new ways of interacting with today’s VR systems — and tomorrow’s AR glasses.”
“Thanks to the commercialization of optical technologies for smartphones and LiDAR, we think we can create small, convenient BCI devices that will let us measure neural signals closer to those we currently record with implanted electrodes — and maybe even decode silent speech one day,” Facebook added.
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