GINC Critical Technology
Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Human-Machine Interfaces

The capacity to join humans and machines: brain-computer and neural interfaces, augmented and immersive interaction, and the human-performance technologies at the boundary of person and system.

Capability group
Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Domain
Critical Technology · Hard Power
Identifier
factbase.org/cap/JTVN7J7W40

Papers

–

2020–2024

Paper growth

–

2020–24 on 2015–19

Patent families

68.7k

2020–2024

Filed abroad

37%

families in more than one office

In the framework

What the capability covers and what it leaves to others, and the indicators it will be measured by.

Bounds

Covers interface technology; medical applications are shared with the biotechnology group, classified by purpose, and the ethics and regulation of human enhancement belong to the governance domain.

Lineage

New in v0.1, the one wholly new capability in the release: interface technology appears across current government technology lists and had no home in v0.0.

Indicators

  • research publication share in neural and immersive interfacesResearch
  • interface device trials approvedPending

Research

No research data maps to this capability yet: it is new in framework v0.1 and the research classification still follows the v0.0 topics.

Patents

Patent families by the nation of origin of their applicants and their earliest priority year, from the CPC and IPC classes the capability is read from. 2025 onwards is incomplete: families are published 18 months after priority.

Families by priority year

The five leading origins, families by year

18,435 applicants filed here in 2015–2024; the five largest held 10% of families (HHI 39 of 10,000: unconcentrated).

Share of families by origin, 2020–2024

  1. 1China45.3%31,126 families
  2. 2United States19.2%13,194 families
  3. 3South Korea15.7%10,786 families
  4. 4Japan6.9%4,726 families
  5. 5Germany3.2%2,213 families
  6. 6Taiwan2.0%1,374 families
  7. 7France1.4%958 families
  8. 8United Kingdom1.0%699 families
  9. 9Finland0.5%376 families
  10. 10Israel0.5%344 families

Applicants filing most internationally, 2015–2024

Families filed in more than one office, by applicant as the offices name them.

  1. 1SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD2,732international families
  2. 2APPLE INC1,534international families
  3. 3META PLATFORMS TECH LLC1,134international families
  4. 4MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC1,126international families
  5. 5SONY CORP920international families
  6. 6BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LTD821international families
  7. 7GOOGLE LLC792international families
  8. 8HUAWEI TECH CO LTD762international families
  9. 9SONY GROUP CORP750international families
  10. 10SNAP INC725international families

Classification read

  • G06F3/011 Body interaction for virtual reality: head, eye, hand, brain signals · 299.3k documents
  • G06F3/016 Haptic and force feedback · 74.3k documents
  • G06F3/017 Gesture-based interaction · 114.1k documents
  • G02B27/01 Head-up and head-mounted displays · 630k documents
  • G06T19/006 Mixed and augmented reality · 101.8k documents
  • A61N1/0529 Electrodes for brain stimulation · 22k documents
  • A61B5/375 Brain-wave biofeedback · 4.4k documents
  • A61F2/72 Nerve and muscle signal control of prostheses · 4.7k documents
  • B25J9/0006 Exoskeletons · 15.3k documents

Shares inventions with

Capabilities whose classes the same families also fall in, by overlap (Jaccard).

Companies

50 companies in this capability, across 8 regions. The leading 12:

  1. 1Meta PlatformsThrough Reality Labs it leads the consumer XR headset market with Quest, sells Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and is developing the Orion AR glasses and an EMG neural wristband.Design
  2. 2AppleIt makes the Vision Pro spatial computer with eye- and hand-tracking input, and is the second-largest international patent applicant in this capability.Design
  3. 3Samsung ElectronicsIt is the largest international patent applicant in this capability, makes the Galaxy XR headset on Android XR, and through Samsung Display supplies OLED and OLEDoS panels for headsets.Manufacture
  4. 4Sony GroupIt makes the PlayStation VR2 and is a leading supplier of micro-OLED displays, including those in Apple Vision Pro, and it is a top-five patent applicant here.Manufacture
  5. 5Alphabet (Google DeepMind)It develops the Android XR platform for headsets and smart glasses with Samsung and Qualcomm, and is a major patent applicant in AR interaction.Software & services
  6. 6MicrosoftIt created the HoloLens mixed-reality headset and the US Army IVAS programme built on it (the programme was handed to Anduril in 2025), and it holds a large mixed-reality patent portfolio.Design
  7. 7QualcommIts Snapdragon XR and AR1 chipsets power most standalone headsets and smart glasses outside Apple, including Quest, Ray-Ban Meta and Galaxy XR.Equipment & materials
  8. 8NeuralinkIt develops the N1 implanted brain-computer interface and its robotic implantation system, and has implanted human participants in FDA-approved PRIME trials since 2024.Research
  9. 9HuaweiIt is a top-ten patent applicant in this capability and makes the Vision Glass and Vision headsets along with HarmonyOS spatial interaction.Design
  10. 10BOE Technology GroupIt is China's largest display maker, supplies LCD and silicon-based OLED microdisplays for VR/AR headsets, and is a top-ten patent applicant here.Equipment & materials
  11. 11ByteDanceIts Pico unit, acquired in 2021, makes the Pico 4 headset line, China's leading consumer VR brand.Design
  12. 12SynchronIt developed the Stentrode, an endovascular brain-computer interface placed through the jugular vein, and was the first BCI company to run an FDA-approved early feasibility study (COMMAND).Research
All 50 in the Companies table →