Social media giant Facebook has announced that it is abandoning plans to build a brain-computer interface (BCI) headset that would convert neural signals into words. The company will rather focus on developing a wrist-based device that will double as a controller in virtual reality (VR) environments.
“While we still believe in the long-term potential of head-mounted optical [brain-computer interface] technologies, we’ve decided to focus our immediate efforts on a different neural interface approach that has a nearer-term path to market,” Facebook’s blog post reads.
Difficult without brain implants
Facebook dedicated four years to the development of the headset but didn’t make huge progress towards developing a usable device for the users. This is another testament to the fact that converting brain signals into usable data is a complex process, even with the best possible resources.
Mark Chevillet, a neuroscientist who was previously a part of the project explained why the company dropped the plans to MIT Technology Review.
“We got lots of hands-on experience with these technologies,” he explained. “That is why we can confidently say, as a consumer interface, a head-mounted optical silent speech device is still a very long way out. Possibly longer than we would have foreseen.”
Facebook was aiming to develop a mind-controlled headset interface that would revolutionize the segment. It wouldn’t have just helped patients with paralysis, but also would’ve been an exciting device for the masses. But the company later realized that making such a device without a brain implant would be difficult. “We never had an intention to make a brain surgery product,” Chevillet explained.
Promising results during research
Initial research showed promise, enabling a man who experienced a stroke to type sentences at a speed of 15 words every minute. While that may sound promising, but the tech was nowhere close to what Facebook had envisioned for a consumer-centric product.
“We see applications in the foreseeable future in clinical assistive technology, but that is not where our business is,” Chevillet told MIT Tech. “We are focused on consumer applications, and there is a very long way to go for that.”
The company will now be focusing on a wearable that will be capable of reading muscle signs in the arm, functioning as a controller inside a VR environment. However, there’s no specific timeline as to when this product will make it to the market.
