Facebook just announced a new concept idea. It is a smart band that can control Facebook’s upcoming augmented reality (AR) glasses.
This is also the first step made by Facebook to enter the competition with Apple’s next-gen computing. This smart band uses sensors to receive electronic nerve signals on our wrist interpreting them into complex hand movements. It will allow the wearer to interact with a virtual world projected through AR glasses through subtle finger movements.
Facebook is designing this technology to allow the wearer to move, manipulate, and cover virtual objects in the real world, i.e. typing on a virtual keyboard.
In the last couple of years, Facebook has been developing its first pair of smart glasses. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg believes that by the end of this century, smart glasses will be everywhere and it is rumored that Facebook will release preliminary AR glasses later this year.
We do not know when the smart band will be on the market. However, researchers are excited about the ability to solve these technical problems still existing in the next couple of years.
Facebook Is Making Its The First Huge Step
Before this, Apple and Google’s Fitbit, and some other technology companies have launched products such as smartwatches and smart bands to track the health of the wearer and receive smartphone notifications. But Facebook is the first big-tech company to propose the use of smart bands as an AR and VR input system.
In the past, some designers of VR and AR systems proposed a series of methods for controlling smart head-mounted devices, from video game controllers to ringtones and even voice commands. But Facebook said its system is better because the smart band is more comfortable and intuitive to use.
With the development of wearable devices, Facebook will compete with Apple and this competition will specifically be in the next-generation computing platform field.
In addition to competing with Facebook in the IM market, there is news that Apple will launch a VR/AR headset next year. It’s an expensive niche product, mainly to pave the way for more mainstream “AR glasses” in the future.
Facebook smart glasses may also cause privacy issues as it did to Google Goggles. But, Facebook is confronting this issue by encouraging researchers to publish their research results in peer-reviewed journals and hold ethics seminars.
