{"id":555588,"date":"2026-03-21T20:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555588\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T20:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:33:11","slug":"meta-shows-confidence-in-emg-input-for-wearables-by-funding-six-external-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555588\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta Shows Confidence in EMG Input for Wearables by Funding Six External Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Meta announced it\u2019s tapped six external teams to receive a research grant in order to advance work on its surface electromyography (sEMG) based wristband controller.<\/p>\n<p>Meta revealed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meta.com\/en-gb\/blog\/motor-learning-neuromotor-ethics-research-proposal-funding-winners-surface-emg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">a blog post<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s launched a research funding initiative focused on improving how users learn and interact with sEMG systems, having chosen six universities out of 70 global submissions.<\/p>\n<p>Each research group is set to receive $150,000 in funding, which includes teams at the University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, University of California, Davis, Newcastle University, University of British Columbia, and Northwestern University.<\/p>\n<p>Meta\u2019s\u00a0wrist-worn neural interface relies on sEMG, which detects electrical activity in the wrist and hand and translates it into digital commands. As\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/meta-ray-ban-smart-glasses-display-price-release-date-specs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Meta Ray-Ban Display\u2019s<\/a> main input device, the company hopes to answer a few questions with the studies, namely: how do people learn new sEMG-based controls, and how can onboarding be streamlined?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/meta-orion-prototype-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119921\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/meta-orion-prototype-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"  \/><\/a>Wrist-worn XR Controller seen with Orion | Image courtesy Meta<\/p>\n<p>The funded projects explore a range of challenges. Some focus on improving learning methods, such as comparing gamified training with step-by-step instruction, or developing systems that adapt to individual users over time.<\/p>\n<p>Others aim to expand what sEMG can do, like enabling silent speech generation by translating muscle signals into synthesized voice, or increasing the \u2018bandwidth\u2019 of communication so users can issue more complex commands without disrupting natural hand movement.<\/p>\n<p>A number of the proposed research topics include assistive applications, such as helping stroke survivors regain muscle control, or improving prosthetic limb operation through co-adaptive systems that learn alongside the user. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meta.com\/en-gb\/blog\/motor-learning-neuromotor-ethics-research-proposal-funding-winners-surface-emg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">You can see more about each study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This follows the release of Meta Ray-Ban Display last September, the company\u2019s first pair of smart glasses with a built-in display. Priced at $800 and only available in the US for now, the smart glasses\u00a0make use of the same input scheme first paired with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/meta-orion-prototype-reveal-connect-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Meta\u2019s Orion AR prototype<\/a>, which was revealed in late 2024.<\/p>\n<p>This ostensibly shows Meta is pretty confident in the control scheme, viewing it as reliable enough for future (likely AR) devices. We\u2019re looking forward to learning more as the research projects progress. Typically, we see papers either highlighted or released during SIGGRAPH, which is taking place in Los Angeles, California this year on July 19th \u2013 23rd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meta announced it\u2019s tapped six external teams to receive a research grant in order to advance work on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[64,63,105,238,239,240],"class_list":["post-555588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-virtual-reality","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology","tag-virtual-reality","tag-virtualreality","tag-vr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}