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Goal is to build a system that is safe!
Elon Musk said on Wednesday, expects a wireless brain chip developed by his company Neuralink to begin human clinical trials in six month.
He also claimed that he would get the device implanted in his own head at some point in the future. Neuralink has been refining the product, which consists of a tiny device and electrode-laced wires, along with a robot that carves out a piece of a person's skull and implants it into the brain.
Ongoing discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration have gone well enough for the company to set a target of its first human trials within the next six months, according to Musk.
They are working to build a brain-computer interface (BCI) that lets people control a computer or mobile device wirelessly with their mind "just by thinking about it," according to its website.
The technology, if it does come to fruition, could be especially promising for people with paralysis and other neurological disorders "Our goal is to build a system that is safe, fuly implanted and cosmetically invisible, available at home or out and about, and usable without assistance" Neuralink's website reads.
Scientists have already created BCI devices (people have used implants to play Pong and control robotic arms) but Neuralink's website says its technology would differ by offering more electrodes that "provide unprecedented Scale."
A couple of similar startups are ahead of Neuralink when it comes to human trials. Synchron Inc., for example, has been able to implant a small stent-like device into the brains of patients in Australia and the US.
The product has made it possible for patients who were unable to move or speak to communicate wirelessly via computers and their thoughts. Onward Inc. has also done breakthrough work restoring some movement in people with spinal cord injuries.
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