Neuralink is developing Bluetooth-compatible implantable chips that can communicate with computers through a small receiver and has previously demonstrated technology in pigs.
“He learned to interact with a computer for a tasty banana smoothie delivered through a straw,” says the narrator in the video as Pager moves a cursor across the screen using a joystick.
The two Neuralink devices record the brain activity through more than 2,000 small electrodes implanted in Pager’s motor cortex, which controls hand and arm movements, according to the video.
Neuralink feeds information from monkey neurons into a decoder, which can then be used to predict the intentional movements of Pager’s hands and to model the relationship between brain activity and joystick movements.
After a short calibration period, the output from the decoder can be used to move the cursor, instead of the Pager manipulating the joystick. Then the joystick is disconnected and Pager is displayed by moving the cursor using only its brain.
“Our goal is to allow a person with paralysis to use the computer or phone only with brain activity,” says the narrator, explaining that people would calibrate their decoder by imagining the movements of their hands.
Musk also discussed device plans on Twitter on Thursday.
“Subsequent versions will be able to disrupt signals from Neuralinks in the brain to Neuralinks in the motor groups / sensory neurons of the body, thus allowing, for example, paraplegics to walk again,” he added.