The first wireless brain-computer interface system (BCI) not only gives people with paralysis the ability to tap on their computer screens, but the innovation also offers the freedom to do it anywhere.
Traditional BCIs were tied to a large transmitter with long cables, but a Brown University team cut the ropes and replaced them with a small transmitter that sits on top of the user’s head.
The redesigned equipment is just two centimeters in diameter and connects to an electrode assembly in the brain’s motor cortex through the same port used by wired systems.
The trials, called BrainGate, ‘showed that two men paralyzed by spinal injuries were able to tap and click on a tablet just by thinking of the action, and doing so with a similar point-and-click -accuracy and typing speed than with a wired system. .
A participant in the BrainGate clinical trial uses wireless transmitters that replace the cables normally used to transmit signals from sensors in the brain. The men with spinal injuries allowed could tap and click on a tablet just by thinking about the action
The innovation is similar to the development of BCI Elon Musk, which is also a wireless device in the brain.
Musk’s technology, however, is not as visible as BrainGate, but has only been tested on monkeys and pigs – BrainGate is the first to perform successful human trials.
John Simeral, an assistant professor of engineering at Brown University, a member of the BrainGate research consortium and lead author of the study, said: ‘We have shown that this wireless system is functionally equivalent to the wired systems that the gold standard in BCI performance for years. ‘
‘The signals are recorded and transmitted with appropriate similar fidelity, which means we can use the same decoding algorithms as we used with wired equipment.
The redesigned equipment is just two centimeters in diameter and connects to an electrode array in the brain’s motor cortex through the same gate used by wired systems.
The innovation is similar to the development of BCI’s Neonink Elon Musk (pictured), which is also a wireless device implanted in the brain. However, Musk’s technology is not as visible as BrainGate, but has only been tested in monkeys and pigs.
“The only difference is that people no longer have to be physically tied to our equipment, which offers new possibilities for how the system can be used.”
The participants in the trial included a 35-year-old man and a 63-year-old man who were both paralyzed by spinal cord injuries.
Everyone could use the BCI in their homes, compared to previous work that had to be done in a laboratory.
The participants were able to use the BCI continuously for up to 24 hours, which gave the researchers long-term data, even while the participants were asleep.
Leigh Hochberg, an engineering professor at Brown, a researcher at Brown’s Carney Institute for Brain Science and leader of the BrainGate clinical trial, said, “We want to understand how neural signals evolve over time.”
‘With this system, we can view brain activity at home over long periods of time in a way that was previously almost impossible.
The participants were able to use the BCI continuously for up to 24 hours, which gave the researchers long-term data, even while the participants were asleep. Pictured is an earlier version on the BCI that included a long cable
“It will help us design decoding algorithms that ensure the seamless, intuitive, reliable restoration of communication and mobility for the paralyzed.”
The latest study builds on the researcher’s initial BrainGate trials that began in 2012, but uses a wired system to enable participants to manipulate prosthetics by thinking of a specific movement.
The work was followed by a steady stream of refinement to the system, as well as new clinical breakthroughs that enabled people to type on computers, use tablet programs, and even move their own paralyzed limbs.
Study co-author Sharlene Flesher, who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and now a hardware engineer at Apple, said: ‘The evolution of intracortical BCIs from the need for a wire cable to a wireless miniature transmitter instead use is an important step towards functional use of fully implanted, high-performance neural interfaces, ‘
‘Since the field is maintained in the direction of reducing transferable bandwidth while controlling the accuracy of the tool control, this study is perhaps one of the few that captures the full width of cortical signals for a long period of time, even during practical use. of BCI. ‘