Neuralink, owned by American businessman Elon Musk, previously introduced a chip the size of a 1 TL coin that can communicate with the brains of a pig and a monkey. brain with a 10 to 15 minute surgery. requiring the connection of a large number of capillary electrodes An alternative to Neuralink is also being developed in China.

Chinese researchers have discovered the brain of a monkey for the first time in history. “interventional interface” method They were able to connect it to the computer. Of course, this link promises much more than Musk’s Neuralink. Because it minimizes harm to the patient.

Although there is still a long way to go, this successful method will allow patients to move their limbs through thoughts almost without risk:

In the surgery performed at Nankin Hospital Baskent Medical University, “interventional electroencephalography (EEG)” was applied to the cerebrovascular portion of the monkey’s brain. Said that way, this process, which seems extremely complicated, actually means the creation of a more modern and harmless method, the “interventional brain-machine interface”. In other words, for the first time in the world, the brain of a primate was connected to a computer using this method. the same operation rather successful on a sheep had resulted.

Ma Yongjie from the research team, thanks to the brain-computer interface they have realized that patients with motor dysfunction want to solve their problems states. In other words, patients who cannot execute the brain’s commands with their limbs will be able to move their limbs when using this brain-computer interface. According to Yongjie, despite the success achieved, many improvements are still possible.

During the research, the scientists discovered that the monkey’s brain signals produced by thoughts They made it possible for a robot arm to move in accordance with thinking. In addition, the interface that connects the brain to the computer is connected in such a way that the patient suffers as little damage as possible during the operation.

There are three different brain-machine interface (BCI) methods:

Also used in Elon Musk’s Neuralink invasive interface (invasive BCL): In this method, electrodes with capillary wires extending from a small and wearable chip are implanted in certain areas of the brain, and there is a risk of infection afterwards because surgery is required. On the contrary, non-invasive interface (non-invasive BCL) It is accepted as standard and, as can be understood, no cables or implants are placed in the patient’s brain.

The third and final aspect is the combination of these 2 methods, which carries a lower risk of infection as very minimal interventions are required in the patient’s brain. interventional interface (inerventional BCL) It is considered. Here is the interface created by Chinese scientists is an interventional interface.

The previously established successful connection with Neuralink in invasive interface technology has now been achieved with an entrepreneurial interface that requires less operation. For this reason, while China is ahead of the US in entrepreneurial interfaces, the US appears to be ahead of China in invasive interfaces. Moreover, these technologies developed in the US are supervised by private companies while the technologies developed in China are supervised by state-backed research universities.

This success has not yet been achieved in the brain-computer interface, which will not harm the brain or human body. However, it looks like we’ll be seeing it in blood before too long.