March 21, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
About a year ago, Facebook started a working group dubbed Building 8 that is focused on hardware prototypes. According to Alex Heath, writing for Business Insider, the company is preparing to debut at least some of that technology next month at its developer conference.
Although Facebook is being tight-lipped about Building 8, the tech giant is hiring dozens of people for its secretive new hardware division and there are apparently four ongoing projects. Heath indicates that they appear to include cameras, augmented reality, and “science fiction-like brain scanning technology.”
Building 8 is headed by Regina Dugan, a former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) executive. DARPA is the Department of Defense (DoD)’s blue-sky out-there technology development agency. She came to Facebook from Google’s Advanced Technology and Products team.
In an April 2016 Forbes article, Dugan said that, “Facebook has its sights set on doing really interesting work consistent with its mission. I think that’s compelling.”
In a related Facebook post at the time, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive officer, wrote, “I’m excited to have Regina apply DARPA-style breakthrough development at the intersection of science and products to our mission. This method is characterized by aggressive, fixed timelines, extensive use of partnerships with universities, small and large businesses, and clear objectives for shipping products at scale. We’ll be investing hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars into this effort over time, and I’m excited to see the progress they make.”
One of the Building 8 projects is the “brain-computer interface” technology. That division is certainly intriguing from a life science and medical device perspective. Although not much is known about the project, there were several job postings for Building 8 that involved “neuroimaging” and “electrophysiological data” to create a “communications platform of the future.”
In a June 2015 Q&A, Zuckerberg said, “One day, I believe we’ll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You’ll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you’d like.”
To some that may prove to be far more distracting and time-wasting than Facebook itself.
Apparently the project’s technical project lead is Mark Chevillet, a former program manager of applied neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.
Another Building 8 project is helmed by Frank Dellaert, an expert in robotics and computer vision. Health believes, “His involvement could suggest that Facebook is looking at making a consumer drone, something which Snapchat maker Snap Inc. has also looked into.”
Another project is headed by Stephen McClure, who is Building 8’s head of hardware. He was the head of hardware for Skydio, where Dellaert was the chief scientist. Another of former GoPro employees are also working at Building 8.
Gene Munster, a partner with Loup Ventures, told Heath he believes that Building 8 will focus on augmented reality. “They realize to be part of this next wave, they’ve got to get real and hurry.”
Dugan also recently posted on Facebook in February, noting that 93 percent of “face-to-face” time between parents and their kids is conducted by the time their children graduate from high school. “Most people experience this fact like a kick in the gut,” she wrote. “Because it is a profound reminder of the power of connections. And that we can do more to increase our sense of presence beyond the remaining 7 percent. I’m optimistic that technology can help.”
Whether that hints at another social media application remains to be seen.
Heath notes, “The move to hardware is an ambitious and risky adventure for Facebook, which reigns as an internet superpower thanks to its nearly 2 billion users. With virtually no experience in the world of hardware, Facebook is taking on deep-pocketed competitors like Apple, Google and upstarts such as Snap, in a cut-throat business defined by thin profit margins and complex logistics.”
