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Looking for another way to control your PC? Google is rolling out Face control, an AI-powered accessibility feature that lets people control their Chromebook with facial movements and gestures.
As part of its Google for Education announcement, the tool will allow people with motor impairment, or anyone else, to move their cursor, select options and even use text-to-speech to type out emails all without needing a mouse of keyboard.
As seen in the demo, the feature uses facial expressions and head movements to navigate around ChromeOS. This includes tilting your head in different directions to move the cursor between apps or actions, adjusting your mouth to the side (similar to a smirk) to select or "click" and opening your mouth to enable speech-to-text.
"The feature uses a series of machine learning models to generate a 3D mesh of 478 specific facial points, enabling precise, real-time gesture detection for hands-free control," Google states. Currently, it can recognize up to 18 different gestures.
This isn't the first we've seen of a Face control-type tool, as the accessibility feature was inspired by Google's own Project GameFace, an open-source, hands-free gaming software that was developed in collaboration with quadriplegic video game streamer Lance Carr.
Google is bringing in more education features and tools powered by the Gemini app and NotebookLM, too, with the latter being able to summarize and create lesson plans and study guides. You can also expect Class tools, acting like a remote control for Chromebooks in classrooms to control students' screens, and updates to Google Vids, a video creation app.
Interestingly, Google also teased 20 new Chromebook and Chromebook Plus models set to debut in 2025, including a new Acer Chromebook 511, Lenovo Chromebook Duet EDU G2, ASUS Chromebook CR12, Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 and more. It also detailed the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus, although this already debuted last year.
It's great to see Google continuing to build new features for its Chromebook users, both for education and accessibility. Will we see more best Chromebooks arrive this year? Only time will tell.
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