Meta focuses its future device on users with mobility problems

The device could serve as a less invasive alternative to Neuralink.

Meta has been working on a wristband that would allow users to control their computer via hand gestures.

Users would be able to move the cursor, open apps, and send messages by writing things in the air, imitating the use of a pencil.

The wristband's operation is based on a surface electromyography (sEMG) technique, which can capture electrical signals created by muscle activity to depict user movements, as revealed in a research paper in Nature.

What’s special about these signals is that they can anticipate a user’s intended actions before they actually do them.

The wristband is aimed at being used as a tool to make it easier and more intuitive for people with motor impairments to use computers, reports TechCrunch.

Meta is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University to test the device with people who have spinal cord injuries, allowing them to use computers without having to use their hands for it.

According to Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, people who have complete hand paralysis still show some muscle activity. This activity allows the wristband to understand what their intended action are.

The wristband can be added to a list of similar alternatives that aim to make the lives of those with disabilities easier. For example, Elon Musk’s Neuralink has already conducted some human trials of its brain implant and is starting a new trial for vision impairment.

What makes Meta’s wristband stand out is that it could be used without having to undergo surgery.