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| Neuralink |
This Wednesday morning, with nearly an hour late, Elon Musk took the floor to launch the presentation of the advances of Neuralink. Its fourth start-up could make its first human clinical test by 2020.
A few years after its creation, therefore, the time has come for Neuralinkto present advances, including brain-integrated connectivity that could allow interactivity between the brain and the machine. Information about the robot that will be responsible for performing the installation of the mechanism was also unveiled.
The first humans equipped could be paralyzed people
Neuralink is the fourth start-up owned by Elon Musk, it was launched in 2016. Its goal is to establish a connection between the human brain and a machine, such as a computer.
With this presentation, we now know that today, Neuralink is ready to test its technology on humans. Specifically, it plans to carry out its first clinical trial in the second quarter of 2020.
Still, it is upstream, the start-up must obtain the authorizations of the US Food and Drug Administration but also succeed in convincing future patients.
Note that Neuralink initially wants to put its technology at the service of health: the "privileged" profiles would, in fact, be people with paralysis, in order to allow them to use connected objects.
Links finer than the hair and a robot surgeon
In terms of design, the company has unveiled "threads" finer than hair. If a human hair measures 50 to 100 μm, a Neuralink connection would have a width of 4 to 6 μm. These wires are called "flexible" and will be used for the connection between the electrode and the computer. A set of wires will allow more data to be passed from one place to another.
We also learn that they will be set up by a robot. Specifically a neurosurgical robot, which was presented at the event, and that will help avoid touching and damaging the brain during the installation of the mechanism. Four holes of 8 mm each will be required for the installation of the interface; then the robot will add six wires in one minute. With a batch of six wires, 192 electrodes will be integrated.
As the brain processes these bonds as external elements and protects itself through tissue formation, Neuralink has designed a custom chip to read, clean and amplify the signals transiting the Neuralink links.
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| Neuralink |
The tests on animals are conclusive ... but do not ensure success on humans
No less than 19 tests were performed on animals, especially rats, and all were successfully conducted.
The wire connected to a USB-C port in the rat's head actually transmitted the animal's "thoughts" to a computer.
If we compare what has already been achieved, especially with sensors, the technology proposed by Neuralink would be ten times more efficient; if we believe the results obtained during the tests by software that collected and analyzed the brain activity of animals.
It remains to wait until 2020, for the start-up to get all the permissions and the first human being equipped. If all goes well, this could allow the patient to enter a text or decide on action on his or her phone or computer just by thinking about it.
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