Julian R., a research scientist, has always been drawn to high-risk, high-reward problems.

As an academic, he took big scientific swings — from building a hovercraft and doing robotics to developing an app for giving people sleep advice using AI. Today, he’s tackling his greatest challenge yet: creating novel and delightful inputs for wearables at Meta.

“When I started with the Wearables team, their electromyography (EMG) technology blew my mind,” remembers Julian. “I put on the EMG wristband, and then I had control over this cat game on screen just by using my hand. I made the cat jump, slide left and right and all happened just moving my fingers — there was no need for buttons or a controller! I saw Meta was taking a big bet on this technology, and I wanted to help build a future where wearables are the next computer.”

This year, a glimpse of that future debuted as Orion. an AR glasses prototype unveiled at Meta Connect. We sat down with Julian to hear how he’s contributing to the wristband that will help make AR glasses a staple of everyday life.

Bringing together EMG and AR technology

Julian and his team are focused on designing, prototyping and testing EMG gestures, or hand movements, for AR glasses like Orion. “EMG technology, which reads how different muscles activate in your forearm, is core to the Orion experience. We are able to identify how people move their hands, such as sliding their thumb over the index finger, as if scrolling on your phone, this gesture for example is used to navigate through menus. ”

To ensure people are comfortable, Julian and his team also needed to estimate how far people will rotate their forearms while using the EMG gestures with the Orion glasses. To do this, the wristband monitors the user’s forearm rotation using an Inertial Measuring Unit which combines an accelerometer and gyroscope sensor and are used to estimate orientation. “I co-created this method, which combines principles of physics, sensors and quaternion math, to estimate arm orientation,” shares Julian. “This method is currently used in all of our team’s AR continuous input gestures. I’m proud to say it led to my first patent.”

With EMG, AR and AI technologies in motion, the next question became: How should people interact with AR glasses? Which gestures would be best for things like scrolling through photos, replying to messages or adjusting the volume of a song?

“The glasses are a new form of computing, so our team is creating different interactions to help people do things they’ve never done before,” Julian explains. “We looked at three factors: how accurately the wristband can capture gestures, how well people can use gestures to complete tasks with AR glasses, and which gestures people prefer.”

With these insights, Julian works cross-functionally with product teams to build a prototype. “For the Orion prototype, our team worked closely with engineers to implement algorithms into the AR glasses. From there, designers used our prototype to build the AR glasses experiences.”

As the team collaborates, they dream up future use cases that inspire them to build bigger and better. “Imagine if a maintenance worker could use AR glasses to check a pipe,” shares Julian. “Through the AR display, they could read pressure levels and temperature to diagnose a problem without interacting physically — using hand gestures instead of tools.” He also envisions occasions like shopping for a gift. “Think about being in a store and wanting to pick out the perfect present for your wife,” Julian offers. “You could ask the AI in the glasses, ‘Hey Meta, which of these would my wife appreciate? She loves drama shows, the arts, and dancing, though she isn’t much for sports’ and boom — you have your own assistant to help make a decision.”

Everyday examples inspire the team, too. “Say it’s winter, you feel cold, and you’re walking around with your hands in your pockets,” Julian offers. “With just a couple of finger movements, you can change the music, read and scroll through texts, or even ask questions — all using the AI in your glasses.”

Building something to believe in

Julian believes the bold culture at Meta will fuel the success of AR wearables. “Meta is a unique place to innovate because we have proven focus and we believe in our technologies,” he shares. “Building for the future is an iterative process. You discover something to explore, go as far as you can, refine, repeat and make it even better.”

An academic at heart, Julian appreciates the open, collaborative environment at Meta. “We often say, ‘No problem is someone else’s problem.’ It doesn’t matter where good ideas come from — as long as they work,” he says. “Our team started exploring different prototypes and some of that technology ended up in Orion. It’s incredible to see your research applied to the real-world.”

When asked what excites him most about his work, Julian speaks about the enormous potential of AR glasses. “AR makes the world more immersive and interesting,” he says with a smile. “You’re in the real world, interacting with people, and your socialization becomes even richer. Whether having a conversation or looking at a 3D model, this technology helps you work, collaborate and have more fun.”