Neuralink: More upbeat news on the second patient’s trials are coming through
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface firm, has offered a positive update on the second of its initial human test subjects. More encouragingly, the company has said: ‘Notably, there was no wire shrinkage as we had anticipated.”
A step to a future studded with technologies minute enough to hold secrets disabled people dream of.
As the company tries to develop an implant for the human brain, Neuralink is offering paralyzed individuals the power to manipulate electronics, operate the internet and in fact, play video games all through the power of thought. After a successful trial run in January, however, the company had problems with the connecting wires of the device, which drew back after two weeks. This removal lessened the implant’s ‘listening’ capability to signals from the brain.
Note: They also have a flexible emphasis on problem solving and on continuous improvement.
For the second patient Alex, Neuralink put in measures that eliminated the same problem from recurring again. They minimized the motion of the brains during operation as well as the space in between the implant and the brains surface. Thus far there has been no thread retraction in this patient.
For the first patient the company adapted an algorithm to enhance the subsequent perception and interpretation of signals after observation. In the first patient case, Neuralink claims its implant has healed and the first patient’s sons are now fine and stable.
Towards the daily and practical application of Neuralinks
From July, when he underwent the surgery, Alex has been trying to use computer-aided design (CAD) to create a special bracket for Neuralink charging. He has also coordinated his implant with a mouth-operated joystick and has been able to play Counter-Strike 2 well with it. Neuralink is now developing the control of the implant to recognize multiple clicks and movements to ‘provide full features of the mouse and gamepad’. Another expected improvement is the capability of understanding the user’s intent to write by hand so as to enable faster typing.
Neuralink aims to provide its users with better capability to interface with the real environment, for example to drive their own power wheelchair or a robotic arm for feeding or washing.