Brain Computer
Interface

2021

 

Dec 28            

In a neuroprosthetic first, ALS patient sends social media message via brain-computer interface

• Philip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient in Australia recently became the first person to post a message on social media using only his thoughts.

• brain computer interface company, Synchron—the device is called the Stentrode Brain Computer Interface (SBCI)

• It was implanted into O’Keefe’s brain without opening his skull—instead, it was inserted through his jugular vein. The tiny (8 mm) brain implant was designed to allow people who have lost the ability to speak to communicate using only their thoughts.

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Sept 30           

In the face of neurotechnology advances, Chile passes ‘neuro rights’ law

• approved a law establishing the rights to personal identity, free will and mental privacy, becoming the first country in the world to legislate on neurotechnology that can manipulate one’s mind.

• could form the basis of future lawmaking in field of human rights in other countries in the face of advances in technology applied to the mind and the brain.

• Rafael Yuste, a biology professor at Columbia University and one of the world’s top experts in the field, told AFP that researchers have already succeeded in implanting in the brain of mice images of things that they hadn’t actually seen which affected their behavior.

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Aug 12       

Researchers take step toward next-generation brain-computer interface system

• each about the size of a grain of salt, to record and stimulate brain activity.

• The sensors, dubbed “neurograins,” independently record the electrical pulses made by firing neurons and send the signals wirelessly to a central hub, which coordinates and processes the signals.

• Up to now, most BCIs have been monolithic devices—a bit like little beds of needles. Our team’s idea was to break up that monolith into tiny sensors that could be distributed across the cerebral cortex.

• The team placed 48 neurograins on the animal’s cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, and successfully recorded characteristic neural signals associated with spontaneous brain activity

• The team also tested the devices’ ability to stimulate the brain as well as record from it. Stimulation is done with tiny electrical pulses that can activate neural activity. The stimulation is driven by the same hub that coordinates neural recording and could one day restore brain function lost to illness or injury, researchers hope.

 

Simon's Comments:

(1) There has to be the corresponding law and technology to protect privicy because the signals release from the person may one day be analize by ML in order to restore one’s own private thinks.

(2) If one day was can restore the brain function, does it mean that we can even ‘copy’ any person’s thought into computer? Copyright law needed?

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July 21            

Wearable brain-machine interface turns intentions into actions

• A new wearable brain-machine interface (BMI) system could improve the quality of life for people with motor dysfunction or paralysis, even those struggling with locked-in syndrome—when a person is fully conscious but unable to move or communicate.

• combined wireless soft scalp electronics and virtual reality in a BMI system that allows the user to imagine an action and wirelessly control a wheelchair or robotic arm.

• it is soft and comfortable to wear, and doesn’t have any wires

• turning intentions into actions.

• the team integrated a powerful machine learning algorithm and virtual reality

• In the 2021 study, users demonstrated accurate control of virtual reality exercises using their thoughts—their motor imagery.