What is Neuralink?
Neuralink is a company that was created in an effort to “merge computers with human brains. They are developing a device—same name as the company—that will first be used to help paraplegics with simple tasks such as using an iPhone and making mouse clicks on a computer—by making no physical movement. It is essentially a chip connected to wires which fan out into the human brain, capable of both recording brain activity and stimulating it.
The process of implanting is done through an invasive surgery with a special surgical robot and could potentially be done in an hour. Elon Musk notes that it will be “flush with the skull,” which deviates from the earlier design that showed the Neuralink connected behind the year. Regardless, it has not been green lighted for human testing and all experiments have been performed on rodents, monkeys, or pigs.
The Specs
The device (V0.9) itself, which is 23 millimeters in diameter and 8 millimeters thick, looks like a tiny, clear yo-yo. It’s roughly the size of a coin, and also has 1,000 tiny wires that connect to neurons in the brain. The device will have an all-day battery life and has a bluetooth setting to connect to other devices. It will also be charged inductively or wirelessly. Other specifications: 6-axis IMU (temperature, pressure, etc.), Megabit wireless data rate.
How Does it Work?
For the surgery, the machine removed a coin sized piece of scalp and skull to reveal the brain underneath. Then, the machine basically stitches the channels (wires) to the brain. The wires themselves are only 6 nanometers in diameter which is about a tenth of your hair. After the Neuralink has been embedded in the correct position, it is super glued shut and the procedure is completed.
The most important aspect of Neuralink is the chip which will interpret the brain activity being picked up by the electrodes/channels. The reason why the Neuralink has to reside within the brain is because electrical signals out of the brain are extremely small, especially with all the noise surrounding it. By placing it within the brain, the Link is able to amplify those signals, which allows it to both record brain activity and stimulate it. In the recent live stream, Musk was able to show that the Neuralink was capable of reading brain signals in real time. In addition, he also showed that it was able to predict the position of the limbs through the brain activity measured by the Link.
[1] Hart, Matthew. (2020). “Elon Musk Presents Live Demonstration of Neuralink Implant”. Nerdist Industries. https://nerdist.com/article/elon-musk-neuralink-implant-demonstration-brain-computer-communication/#:~:text=The%20device%20itself%2C%20which%20is,to%20neurons%20in%20the%20brain.&text=Users%20of%20the%20device%20would,robot%2C%20which%20Musk%20also%20unveiled Last Accessed: 30 August 2020.
[2] L., Kenny. (2019). “What Is Neuralink: A Look At What It Wants to Be, and What It Could Become”. Towards Data Science. https://towardsdatascience.com/what-is-neuralink-a-look-at-what-it-is-what-it-wants-to-be-and-what-it-could-become-2acf32b51dc5 Last Accessed: 30 August 2020.
[3] Hamilton, Isobel Asher. (2020). “Elon Musk’s AI brain chip company Neuralink is doing its first live tech demo on Friday. Here’s what we know so far about the wild science behind it.”. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/we-spoke-to-2-neuroscientists-about-how-exciting-elon-musks-neuralink-really-is-2019-9 Last Accessed: 30 August 2020.
[4] Shankland, Stephen. (2019). “Elon Musk says Neuralink plans 2020 human test of brain-computer interface”. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-neuralink-works-monkeys-human-test-brain-computer-interface-in-2020/ Last Accessed: 30 August 2020.
[5] Neuralink. (2020). “Neuralink Progress Update, Summer 2020”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVvmgjBL74w&feature=youtu.be Last Accessed: 30 August 3030.
[6] Neuralink. (2016). https://neuralink.com/ Last Accessed: 16 February 2021. (Thumbnail Image Source)
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