Biomedical company Synchron just announced that they’re testing a brain implant chip on humans. The volunteers can’t wait to get wired. It allows the wearer to “control a computer using thought alone.” That’s a really good thing if you’re paralyzed.
Brain computer interface
Synchron, maker of the Stentrode brain implant, has announced human trials in the United States. The paper clip sized implant will be installed in “six patients in New York and Pittsburgh who have severe paralysis.”
The chip is expected to “let patients control digital devices just by thinking.” That, the experts say, will “give them back the ability to perform daily tasks, including texting, emailing and shopping online.”
This isn’t the first set of tests on humans. The brain implant has already been tried out on patients in Australia.
Once it’s shown to be safe and effective, Stentrode could “be sold as a commercial product aimed at paralysis patients to regain their independence and quality of life.”
Starting with a scaffold crafted from a special alloy known for it’s flexibility called nitinol, the researchers cover it with electrodes.
After they stuff it into the motor cortex, those sensors “can record neural signals in the brain.”
Minimally invasive
The good news is that even though it’s a brain implant, no major surgery is required. The implant goes in through the jugular vein in a ‘minimally-invasive procedure,’ they promise.
Once the bugs get worked out and they hit the mass market, everybody will want one.
Once the implant is positioned, the hardware and software translate “brain activity into a standardized digital language.”
That lets patients “complete everyday tasks hands-free, on external devices including texting, emailing, online shopping and accessing telehealth services.”
People become paralyzed for a wide range of reasons and this system was designed to allow them an option that’s “user friendly and dependable for patients to use autonomously.”
Ultimately, “this means the patient can control what’s on the computer screen, such as a cursor or an on-screen keyboard.” Four patients are already wired up and a year after the brain implant went in, nobody had a single problem. The next step is wiring the pleasure center straight to a wall socket.