Neuralink tests controlling a robotic arm with thoughts

New technology from Neuralink could help paralyzed people perform simple everyday tasks without assistance.

Neuralink, Elon Musk's neurotechnology company, announced on November 26 that it is working to test its implant technology for a new use: helping users control a robotic arm with their thoughts.

"We are pleased to announce the approval and launch of a new feasibility study to extend BCI control capabilities with the N1 implant to assistive robotic arms," ​​Neuralink wrote on social network X. Currently, there are no further details about the new research on Neuralink's website.

Neuralink's new technology could allow users to control robotic arms with just their thoughts. (Photo: Viorel Kurnosov).

A BCI, or brain-computer interface , is a system that allows users to directly control external devices using brain waves. The system reads and decodes the intentional movement signals from neurons. Neuralink's BCI consists of a coin-sized device called the N1, which is surgically implanted into the brain by a robot. The company is evaluating the BCI's safety as well as its ability to help paralyzed people control computers.

Operating a computer or a prosthetic arm is not a new feat for BCI systems. In 2008, a team led by Andrew Schwartz at the University of Pittsburgh showed that monkeys could control a robotic arm to help them eat using brain signals. They then moved on to testing human volunteers. In a 2012 study in the journal Nature , two people paralyzed by strokes controlled robotic arms to touch and grasp objects using only their thoughts. One even got himself a cup of coffee for the first time in 14 years. In another 2016 study, a man using a BCI regained his sense of touch using a robotic arm.

The BCIs in those studies were bulky systems that required cables to run from the user's head to a computer that decodes brain signals. However, Neuralink's system is wireless.

Earlier this year, Neuralink demonstrated that its BCI could help control a computer cursor. In a video on X, study participant Noland Arbaugh used the Neuralink device to play chess and other computer games.

Arbaugh, who became a quadriplegic after a swimming accident in 2016, underwent brain surgery in January to implant the Neuralink device, but a few weeks later, it began malfunctioning. The implant has 64 thin, flexible cables that run through brain tissue. Each cable contains 16 electrodes that collect neural signals. In May, Neuralink said that some of the cables had retracted from Arbaugh's brain, causing him to temporarily lose the ability to control a computer cursor. Neuralink later restored Arbaugh's control by tweaking the brain recording algorithm to be more sensitive and changing the way it interprets neural signals into cursor movements.

Neuralink's second trial participant, Alex, received the implant in July. Neuralink has taken steps to reduce the chance of the cable shrinking, including reducing brain movement during surgery and reducing the distance between the implant and the brain's surface.

'Congratulations to Neuralink on receiving approval for their feasibility trial. Every step forward in neurotechnology brings us closer to empowering people with neurological disorders ,' said Marcus Gerhardt, CEO and co-founder of Blackrock Neurotech.

The biggest challenge in controlling a robotic arm with a BCI is calibration, says Brian Dekleva, a research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh's Restorative Neural Engineering Laboratory. "The more complex the control, the more degrees of freedom you add, the longer the calibration process takes. People don't want to sit down and calibrate for half an hour every day to get their device working," he says. If this limitation can be overcome, the new technology could help paralyzed people perform simple daily tasks without assistance.