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Facebook acquired a brain-computing startup for more than $500 million (FB)

mark zuckerberg

  • Facebook is acquiring CTRL-labs, a startup developing "brain computing" technology.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bloomberg cited anonymous sources pegging it between $500 million and $1 billion.
  • CTRL-labs is developing a wristband that it says will allow people to control computers just by thinking about it.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook is acquiring the maker of an electronic wristband that it says will allow people to share photos on its social network, click a button on their computer's mouse and perform other tasks just by thinking about it. 

Facebook said Monday that it acquired CTRL-labs, a four-year old startup considered a pioneer in the emerging field of "brain computing," for an undisclosed sum. A report in Bloomberg said Facebook paid somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion for the company, citing anonymous sources.

"The vision for this work is a wristband that lets people control their devices as a natural extension of movement," Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth wrote in a blog post announcing the deal on Monday.

CTRL-labs, based in New York, has raised $67 million from backers including Google investing arm GV, Amazon's Alexa Fund and Lux Capital. The company describes its product as a "non-invasive neural interface platform."

Facebook is among several well-funded organizations seeking to create science-fiction like products using a "brain computing" interface. In July, Elon Musk said that Neuralink, a brain computing company he founded,will be ready for human trials in 2020.

CTRL-labs brain computing wristband Facebook

CTRL-labs will become part of the Reality Labs group within Facebook that is developing projects like augmented reality glasses. 

The wristband will "decode" the signals sent from the neurons in a person's spinal cord that tell muscles in the body how to move. Those signals will be translated into digital signals that an electronic device can understand, Bosworth continued.

The wristband, he said, "captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to."

Bosworth hinted that such technology could be especially useful in virtual reality. 

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