Pebbles Interfaces Acquired By Oculus

Meanwhile, Oculus did not reveal the financial details of the deal; however, a report on Wall Street Journal, points out that the company is expected to shell out $60 million for the deal.

Pebbles Interfaces, based in Kfar Saba, is Facebook’s fourth acquisition in Israel, the Israeli business daily Globes reported Sunday.

Social networking might soon get completely revamped as Facebook’s Oculus expands into virtual reality through the recent Pebbles acquisition.

Pebbles is a start-up company from Israel, which is mainly specialized in the study of hand movements within virtual reality.

Facebook’s VR company Oculus has partnered with virtual reality film mavericks Felix & Paul Studios to produce a slate of immersive experiences for the Rift headset. To do so, the new company will join Oculus VR’s hardware engineering and computer visions teams, designing new technologies for virtual reality and human-computer interactions.

Oculus also announced yesterday that it’s acquired Israeli gesture-sensing tech firm Pebbles Interfaces to develop new ways for users to interact with VR experiences without the need for a physical controller.

Recently Pebbles integrated its technology with Oculus glasses, which translate finger gestures into virtual movement through a camera mounted on the glass frame, Calcalist said. The company has spent the best part of five years working on technology that uses custom optics, sensor systems and algorithms that detect and track hand movement. Pebbles claims that its technology is capable of showing clothing, scars or items held in one’s hand as well as other unique features. In addition, the highly advanced virtual reality software can also match and reproduce clothes and accessories.