New Delhi: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that its most secretive brain-computer interface technology startup Neuralink will provide a key update on its progress on August 28.
"If you can't beat em, join em – Neuralink's mission statement," Musk tweeted on Thursday without divulging much details. "Progress update August 28, " he added.
If you can’t beat em, join em
Neuralink mission statement— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2020
To help paralysed people control devices and empower people with brain disorders, Neuralink last year unveiled tiny brain "threads" in a chip which is long lasting, usable at home and has the potential to replace cumbersome devices currently used as brain-machine interfaces.
"The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated. Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year," Musk had tweeted in February this year.
The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated. Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year. Just needs to be unequivocally better than Utah Array, which is already in some humans & has severe drawbacks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2020
"This has the potential to solve several brain-related diseases. The idea is to understand and treat brain disorders, preserve and enhance your own brain and create a well-aligned future," Musk told the audience at the launch event last year.
The technology has a module that sits outside the head, behind the ear, and receives information from "threads" embedded in the brain.
Controlled by an iPhone app, the chip called "N1 sensor" with just a USB port coming out can have as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 "threads" -- each "thread" smaller than the tiniest human hair.
The chip which will be wireless in the future can read, transmit high-volume data and amplify signals from the brain.
Founded as a medical research company in 2016, Neuralink has hired several high-profile neuroscientists from various universities.
The company is focused on creating devices resembling tiny sewing machines that can be implanted in the human brain -- to improve memory or more direct interfacing with computing devices.
With IANS Inputs
