A video in which it seems like a monkey is playing Pong, the computer game with its mind, was released by Neuralink, the implant company that Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla owns.
A macaque, named Pager who is 9 years old, had a Neuralink device inserted into its brain on both sides. It can be seen in the YouTube video that the company posted on Friday.
The company Neuralink has developed an implantable chip with Bluetooth capabilities. This chip communicates with a computer via a small receiver, as demonstrated in previous experiments with pigs.
As Pager movies the cursor on the screen using a joystick, the narrator in the video says:
“He’s learned to interact with a computer for a tasty banana smoothie delivered through a straw.”
The two Neuralink devices implanted on both sides of the brain record the activity of the brain through more than 2,000 small electrodes in the motor cortex Pager. According to the video, it controls hand and arm movements.
The information from the neurons of the monkey gets turned into a decoder by the Neuralink feed. That can then be used in predicting what hand movement Pager wants to do.
This model shows the connection between the activity of the brain and the joystick movements.
After a small calibration period, the decoder output can get used to moving the cursor around, rather than the joystick getting manipulated by Pager.
Once they disconnect the joystick, it shows Pager using its brain to move the cursor.
The narrator further explains that people would get the decoder calibrated by imagining the movements of their hands.
The narrator in the video says:
“Our goal is to enable a person with paralysis to use a computer or phone with their brain activity alone.”
On Thursday, Elon Musk took to Twitter to let people know of further discussed plans for their devices.
Musk tweeted:
The first iteration of the device “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.”
He also added:
“Later versions will be able to shunt signals from Neuralinks in the brain to Neuralinks in body motor/sensory neuron clusters, thus enabling, for example, paraplegics to walk again.”
What is Elon Musk’s Neuralink used for?
Neuralink strives to let paralyzed individuals communicate by allowing them to control devices with their brains from a distance. In the future, Neuralink can boost users’ memory and thinking skills, repair a user’s ability to move, feel, and see, and address neurological issues.
What did Neuralink do to the monkeys?
The complications involve symptoms like bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis, and what people commonly call “brain swelling,” medically known as cerebral edema.
Have Animals Died with Neuralink?
The company has conducted experiments since 2018, and in total, they have killed approximately 1,500 animals, including over 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys. This information comes from records reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the company’s animal testing activities.
Why did the FDA reject Neuralink?
The FDA rejected Neuralink’s request to test its brain implant on people because it didn’t provide enough information about how it affects the human body. This was reported in a recent article on BioSpace.
What is the success rate of Neuralink?
This robot underwent testing on 19 rat models. The results showed an average insertion success rate of 87.1%. Another challenging task was receiving and transcribing information from more than 3,000 electrodes.
Is Neuralink a brain implant?
Neuralink announced it’s ready to start providing brain implants to paralysis patients as part of the PRIME Study after getting the green light from an independent review board.
