The American group Snap, parent company of the social network Snapchat, announced on Wednesday the acquisition of the Parisian start-up NextMind, which is developing technology that measures neuronal activity in order to control electronic devices using the brain. The transaction amount was not sent. NextMind employees will continue to work from Paris. Snap has indicated that this acquisition will serve to deepen its research and projects in the field of augmented reality, in particular its connected glasses “Spectacles”, which are currently only available to content creators and not to the general public. public. Founded by French neuroscientist Sid Kouider, NextMind presented its technology in January 2020 at the annual Las Vegas Tech Show (CES). The young shoot then offered volunteers to put a headband around their skull fitted with sensors measuring neural signals and supposed to understand the intentions of the person, then translate them into suitable applications.
It began to deliver its kits for developers from December 2020. According to the specialized American site VentureBeat, these are sold at a price of 399 dollars. NexMind insists that its technology is “non-invasive”, meaning that it does not require the implantation of a chip under the skin, as Neuralink, a start-up co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, notably proposes. boss of Tesla electric cars and SpaceX rockets. “This technology measures neural activity to understand your intentions when interacting with a computer interface by allowing you to press a virtual button, simply by focusing on it,” Snap said in a statement. “This technology does not ‘read’ thoughts or send signals to the brain,” the company added.
