The company has acquired CTRL-labs, which is exploring ways for people to communicate with computers using brain signals.
Facebook has announced plans to build a mind-reading wristband that will let people control their devices “as a natural extension of movement”.
“We spend a lot of time trying to get our technology to do what we want rather than enjoying the people around us,” said Bosworth.
“We know there are more natural, intuitive ways to interact with devices and technology. And we want to build them.”
Its development-stage wrist-worn device uses sensors to track gestures and would act as an input device.
“You have neurons in your spinal cord that send electrical signals to your hand muscles telling them to move in specific ways such as to click a mouse or press a button,” Bosworth explained.
“The wristband will decode those signals and translate them into a digital signal your device can understand, empowering you with control over your digital life.
“It captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to.”
Back in 2016, the company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for a kind of “techno-telepathy” where people could capture and share thoughts straight from their heads.
Then, in 2017, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was working on a brain-computer interface that would allow people to communicate using only their minds.
“We’re building further out beyond augmented reality, and that includes work around direct brain interfaces that one day will let you communicate using only your mind,” he said.
The company has teamed up with researchers from the University of California to develop a pair of augmented reality glasses that can detect brain activity by monitoring oxygen levels in the brain.
“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,” Facebook said.
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