Shape of things to comeResearchers conduct live human trials of brain-plug interface
Brown University researchers begin human trials of “neural interface” brain-plug equipment, intended to let users control computers and machinery merely by thinking; the technology would initially be used by patients suffering from paralysis or amputated limbs, but eventually allow people, telekinetically, to unlock doors, turn lights or machines on and off, handle computers
Scientists say that their new “neural interface” brain-plug equipment, intended to let users control computers and machinery merely by thinking, is about to embark on its second stage of clinical trials. The technology is intended initially to help patients suffering from paralyzing illness or massive injuries, but has implications beyond the medical field.
The kit in question is called BrainGate, and is under development by neuroscience, engineering, and computing researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island. It uses a grid of electrodes implanted beneath a user’s skull into his or her motor cortex, linked to a “pedestal” assembly atop the cranium. At the moment, this is hooked up by a wired connection to the BrainGate computers which interpret the electrodes’ readings from the motor cortex and “turn thought into action” — for instance by moving a cursor on a screen, or operating a cybernetic limb, or directing a motorized wheelchair.
Lewis Page writes that initial trials have already been carried out, according to the researchers, during which a lot was learned. The technology is far from fully developed yet, and the second phase of trials — now beginning — is under an “investigational device exemption,” meaning that the kit is still at the prototype stage and is not certified as medically safe.
The BrainGate team has ambitious goals. They note that wired connections are clumsy, and furthermore that the through-the-skin plug assembly presents a risk of infection — a rather serious one, as it penetrates not just the scalp but the skull and the protective meninges covering the brain. Thus the team aim ultimately to design a fully internal, self-powered wireless brain implant to replace the present skull jack.
Even more impressively, they note that in many cases of paralysis — as opposed to amputation — a patient’s limbs are still fully functional. They have simply been “disconnected” from the brain’s motor centers by illness or damage to the nerves or spinal cord. Page writes that the Brown researchers hope to find a way of using their cortical implant to send signals to other implants on undamaged nerves controlling paralyzed limbs, effectively attaching jumper leads to bridge the broken nerve connections and restoring the brain’s control over the relevant muscles.
In cases where the original limb is gone — the Brown scientists will be working with a lot of injured troops in this trial, as Rhode Island is home to a large U.S. Veterans Administration research hospital — the BrainGate technology could furnish a much better and more instinctive means of controlling prosthetic limbs, powered wheelchairs etc.
Page notes that, initially, the technology will be strictly for medical uses. If it ever becomes truly safe and convenient to use, we can imagine people choosing voluntarily to have a BrainGate interface implanted into their heads simply for convenience. It would confer abilities roughly equivalent to telepathy and clairvoyance right off, particularly if combined with some kind of feedback mechanism — video specs, perhaps, or an equivalent of BrainGate attached to the optic nerve instead. In a sufficiently wired and automated world, it would also be effectively telekinetic: unlocking doors, turning lights or machines on and off, handling computers etc. “We are entering a new age of neurotechnology,” says John Donoghue, professor of neuroscience at Brown.
