Elon Musk‘s company, Neuralink, which specializes in brain-computer interfaces, has begun recruiting people for its first human clinical trial. The company’s goal is to connect human brains to computers and wants to test its technology on people with paralysis.
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A robot will help place the implant that will allow humans to control a computer cursor or type using only thoughts. Neuralink won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first human clinical trial in May, a feat after previous struggles to gain approval.
At the time, Neuralink stated that the FDA approval represented “an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people.” The company had sought approval to implant its devices in 10 people, although, the number ultimately agreed upon is not known.
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At the start of the six-year study, a robot would be used to surgically place 64 flexible threads, thinner than a human hair, in a part of the brain that controls “movement intention,” the company said. These wires allow Neuralink’s experimental N1 implant, powered by a battery that can be charged wirelessly, to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an application that decodes how the person intends to move.
The company says people may qualify for the trial if they have quadriplegia due to injury or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a disease in which nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain degenerate. While Musk’s involvement raises Neuralink’s profile, it is also a fact that it faces competitors, some with a track record going back nearly two decades. Utah-based Blackrock Neurotech placed its first implants in 2004.
Precision Neuroscience, formed by a Neuralink co-founder, also aims to help people with paralysis. Their implant resembles a very thin piece of tape that is placed on the surface of the brain and can be placed through a “cranial microincision,” which they say is a much simpler procedure.
In the meantime, existing devices are generating results. In two separate recent scientific studies in the United States, implants were used to monitor brain activity when a person attempted to speak, which could then be deciphered to help them communicate.
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernández in Cultura Colectiva News
