Will Neuralink be the only medical guide when the brain-computer interface shines into reality?

In "A Brief History of the Future," Hurally raises new questions about humans, arguing that neural networks will be replaced by intelligent software that will allow humans to travel both virtual and real worlds, free from organic chemistry.
so-called "free individuals" will also become a fictional story, turning into a combination of bio-chemical algorithms.
's prediction of a "human machine" will come true, but in July this year, a news that Neuralink's "brain-computer interface" (BCI) technology had made a major breakthrough and that the device had been licensed by the FDA's "breakthrough device program" was like a bulletin proclaiming that the "human-machine" combination had become a reality.
"brain-computer interface" is not an emerging issue, neither Black Mirror nor Hacking Empire has discussed the future significance of "brain-computer" from a "untophane" perspective.
reality has not followed the path depicted in sci-fi movies, and most BCI technologies were originally developed as medical applications.
the 1970s, Jacques Vidal came up with the concept of brain-computer interface and focused BCI research and development on helping patients recover damaged vision, hearing and motor neuro repair.
with advances in technology, the first human neuro-repair devices appeared in the mid-1990s.
1998, Philip Kennedy implanted electrodes into the human brain for the first time and successfully gave the patient the ability to control the computer cursor with "brain electricity".
year later, the first BCI International Conference gave a clear definition of BCI: "The brain-computer interface is an output path-based communication system that does not rely on normal peripheral nerves and muscles.
" BCI was thus pushed to the fore, and its possible communication between the brain and the computer without relying on the involvement of peripheral nerves and muscles underscores the value of the technology in assisting in the treatment of indetegers such as stroke and epilepsy.
with the development of technology and the gradual expansion of market demand, BCI technology has expanded from initially providing complementary treatment to spelling and controlling pointer movement applications for patients who are completely insercisive.
, various brain-computer interface systems and signal processing technologies with the function of controlling neurosethics have also begun to develop on this basis.
the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Juliano Pinto, a highly paraplegic youth, played a ball with the help of brain-computer interfaces and artificial exoskeleton technology; in 2016, Nathan Copeland shook hands with President Barack Obama with a mind; in 2017, Facebook announced the "Mind Typing" project; and in 2020 Nelinkura announced the launch of "The Link v 0.9" ... Every step the brain-computer interface has taken in the process of development seems to make the possibility of its landing application clear, but there is still some way to go to truly realize the application of the brain-computer interface.
ideal brain-computer interface not only helps researchers collect neuron signals, but also encodes specific instructions, which are communicated to other parts of the brain-computer interface to help the brain complete the signaling.
this process, at least four processes need to be completed: acquisition of signals - signal decoding - recoding - feedback.
these four processes seem simple, but they are as difficult as the sky, and the first process of "collecting signals" has killed a large number of explorers who want to nugget from BCI.
, the human brain not only has hundreds of billions of neuron cells, from the outer outer part of the head to the middle of the skull is also separated by 19 layers.
And between the skull and the brain, and separated by the epidural, cobweb membrane, cobweb beam and other tissues, want to eliminate many of the resistance, to achieve accurate collection of signals can be said that there are still many difficulties.
we're reveling at every step of the way for the brain-computer interface, but we also need to be rational.
After all, the human brain is like a mysterious black forest, not only in the "collecting signal" there are still many problems to be solved, slightly wrong also easy to lead to paralysis, brain death and so on.
brain has a more subtle structure than other tissues in the human body, and it may take time to crack the "secrets" of the human brain.
: Entering the field of brain-computer interfaces is making waves again, without the launch of Neuralink a month ago.
press release, Musk linked BCI to mental illness.
In his speech, he noted that many people may experience various neurological problems at different stages of their lives, such as amnesia, blindness, deafness, paralysis, depression, insomnia, addiction, epilepsy, stroke, brain trauma, etc.
neuralink's value lies in providing an affordable and reliable solution to these troubling problems by implanting electronic devices into the brain, which has been medically proven to work.
in general, what Neuralink wants to do is develop a brain-computer interface powerful enough to cure brain diseases in humans and give them more powerful functions.
press conference, Musk introduced two devices.
is a 23mm×8mm chip with 1024 channels that can receive, decode and send information about nerve activity in the brain.
is the ability to scan brain structures, avoid blood vessels and dangerous areas, and precisely implant chips into new surgical robots that are positioned at a predetermined location while reducing the damage to soft tissue caused by the implantation process.
, Neralink seems to have taken another step forward in the development of brain-computer interfaces compared to its inception.
Neuralink's new surgical robot, from Musk's logic, the ideal brain-computer interface not only helps researchers capture neuron signals, but also encodes specific instructions, which are communicated to other parts of the brain-computer interface to help the brain complete the signaling.
this is one of the main reasons why Neuralink's BCI has developed from a "sewing machine" into today's "intrusive coin" - only if the electrode network is close enough to the neurons can we get enough high-resolution signals.
video released by Musk, staff read in real time and simultaneously showed piggy B's brainwake on the big screen.
, which is mounted in piglet A's head, is reading the current in the nerves associated with its nose, which has a peak of brain waves whenever it touches anything.
a video of a piglet on a second treadmill, Neuralink predicts its trajectory through brain waves.
chart shows that the predicted trajectory of motion and the actual trajectory of motion are basically consistent.
Neuralink collects the piglet brain wave signal, predicting its action attitude can predict the pig's action attitude to a certain extent, which means that Neuralink collects the signal once reached a fairly high accuracy.
, despite Neuralink's major breakthrough in signal acquisition, there was not much breakthrough in the signal decoding phase, the second stage of BCI's implementation.
"This launch will be disappointing that there has been no progress in the decoding of nerve signals, but a simple demonstration of the relationship between piglet limb movement and nerve discharge in the brain, from the implanted brain interface and mobile phone communication is still a long way away," said Professor Hong Bo, an expert on brain-computer interfaces at Tsinghua University. Research on the decoding of motor information brain interfaces has matured, with Brown University, Stanford University and others successfully demonstrating in monkeys and human brains, but the FDA has in the past approved small-scale human clinical trials by companies such as Cyberkinetics and BlackRock, but to no avail.
then, if Musk can complete the decoding problem in the next job, then the recoding process may not be so difficult.
, the feedback process could still be another insurmountable mountain.
feedback session needs to be used by BCI to obtain environmental feedback before it can be used on the brain.
, we rely on vision, hearing, touch, and hearing to get environmental information that is transmitted to the brain in real time.
However, even the current hot and widely used in life's computer vision technology, but also mostly stay in the two-dimensional image processing, three-dimensional image data volume, difficult to encode and other issues, have become a huge obstacle in the feedback process.
Although Neuralink attracted industry attention to BCI technology at the launch, Neuralink has not shown significant progress in neurosynur signal decoding and is a long way from the development of mature brain-computer interface technology.
BrainGate: BrainGate, another company with a conscious control robot arm that has a prominent role in the field of brain-machine interfaces, was founded in 2001.
its research team consists mainly of neurologists, neuroscientists, engineers, computer scientists, neurosurgeons, mathematicians, and other researchers from Harvard Medical School, Brown University, Cleveland Medical Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, etc.
In BCI technology research and development, BrainGate focuses on assisting in the treatment of neurological disorders, communication disorders, and inflexibility, by implanting sensors into the brains of paralysed patients to monitor their brain activity and turning the patient's consciousness into instructions to the computer to improve the patient's ability to operate the computer, allowing patients with amyotrophy lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury and stroke to regain control of their lives.
brainGate is developing a new generation of wireless medical neurotechnology to record and monitor neurological activity to diagnose and manage neurological disorders in patients drinking water through consciously controlled robotic arms.
cures brain disease, and while China is always salivating at the news about emerging BCI technologies overseas, BCI's academic research has also come a long way at home.
: "At present, Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University are mainly engaged in BCI-related research, " Professor Wang Hongbo told Arterial Network.
Zhejiang University, using the U.S. Uta electrode array mentioned by Musk, has implanted the electrode array in the cerebral cortical layer of monkeys and patients, successfully achieving control of the robot's brain-machine interface; The research on the interface of minimally invasive implanted brain machine carried out in patients with eclampsia adopts different schemes, the recording electrode is buried in the skull, does not penetrate the epidural, therefore does not destroy nerve cells, can collect intracranial brain electricity for a long time, has realized the brain machine interface typing and so on.
need to be noted that both groups are still in preclinical trials and are not licensed for medical devices.
" is different from Musk's great blueprint in the BCI field, domestic brain research is more focused on the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases and brain-inspired artificial intelligence.
, China has formed a basic consensus in the scientific community on the research direction of the "One Wing, Two Wings" brain program.
"one" is the "cognitive brain" and pay attention to and understand how the cognitive function of the human brain comes about.
core is the essence of cognitive brain region structure and functional neural networks, trying to clarify how the brain works.
"We see computers, and to analyze its function, we have to know the structure of the computer, and for the function of the brain, we have to know the network structure of the brain, which is called the 'whole brain-to-neuro-connection map', and that's a key part of our big plan," said Pu Muming, a leader and advocate of the Chinese Brain Project.
"two wings" point to the "protection of the brain" and "creation of the brain" two major directions.
Among them, "protecting the brain" is mainly to better diagnose and treat all kinds of serious brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, depression and other diseases, in the neurological diseases on this track, there will be the opportunity to give birth to hundreds of billions of unicorn enterprises.
"Creative Brain" mainly realizes the research and development of brain-like artificial intelligence, the core strategic goal is to develop the brain-like computer, will be composed of two parts: first, the development of brain-type devices and structures;
The great value of china's brain program lies in its continuous implementation in the next five to ten years, will fully promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and brain science development, its research results, will greatly promote the development of brain-like artificial intelligence technology, research breakthroughs in this field, will lead a new round of scientific and technological revolution.
based on this program, our country is fully committed to the development of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression and other major social burden of disease treatment.
, the research in this direction has made great progress.
, taking advantage of demographic advantages, we will gain more big data on brain disease over time and find more ways to cure it.
steady, commercial BCI dawn has been accompanied by the promotion of policy and technological development, in the past ten years, China has also produced some results in the field of brain science, and extended to neurological diseases, mental illness, rehabilitation and other fields.
the first company in China to industrialization of brain machine interface Bo Ruikang Technology is the representative enterprise in the field of brain machine, relying on Tsinghua University Neuro-Engineering Laboratory, which is mainly involved in neuroscience, psychology, neuro-engineering and other fields of research.
In the diagnosis and application of neurological diseases, Borecon products include electroencephaloelectric and induced power station (brain function monitor), high-frequency high-conductivity encephalopathic acquisition system, the former is mainly used for the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases such as epilepsy, cerebral hemorrhage, the latter is mostly used for neurosurgery to assist in positioning.
in therapeutic products, Boracon focuses on minimally invascope implanted feedback therapy and brain-computer intelligent active rehabilitation.
-invasive implant feedback therapy is for epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
in this year's World Robotics Congress, "BCI Brain Control Robot Competition and the 3rd China Brain Machine Interface Competition", Bo Ruikang for the competition to provide brain machine interface signal acquisition equipment and data analysis platform.
Weiswen, from Tianjin University, set a new chinese record for typing using brain-computer interface technology by outputing 691.55 bits per minute (equivalent to 69 Chinese characters per minute) on a computer screen.
addition to Bo Ruikang, Inno Technology, Yitai Smart and other enterprises have also made a breakthrough in the field of BCI.
technology around the medical electroencephaloelectrel data service in the product line.