Meta's wristband controller 'will learn and adapt to you'

At Meta Connect 2022, the company's annual developer conference for virtual reality, the main event was all about the new Quest Pro VR headset. At the end of the keynote, however, Meta's research and development team did tease some far-future tech we last saw over a year ago.

Michael Abrash, chief scientist of Reality Labs, showed off a prototype of a wrist-worn device that reads electrical signals within your muscles, letting you navigate mixed-reality and other more traditional onscreen experiences.

The demo below shows how tiny, almost imperceptible hand movements are captured using electromyography (EMG) and then translated into actions which can be used to control video game characters, for example. According to Abrash, the device uses artificial intelligence to understand a person's unique movements and calibrate accuracy in real time.

In addition to its potential use in metaverse gaming, the device is also being designed to take photos and videos, control music playback, and make phone calls — all via slight hand gestures.

Abrash noted that everything in the demo is just research at this point and may or may not end up in Meta's product line.

"But it’s definitely a glimpse of where technology’s headed," he added.