News JVTech Elon Musk comes to the aid of seriously disabled people! Soon, real cyborgs will be walking the streets
Published on 11/30/2024 at 7:10 p.m.
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After having succeeded in implanting a chip directly into the brain of a quadriplegic person, the company Neuralink, owned by Elon Musk, now wishes to associate this chip with a prosthetic robotic arm. New hope for amputees.
2024 clearly marked a turning point for Elon Musk's Neuralink company : at the beginning of the year, this start-up specializing in neural implants formalized the first installation of its chip within a human brain. Nolan Arbaugh, a 29-year-old American who became quadriplegic following a swimming accident, caused a sensation playing Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch using only your mind. And that's far from the only thing he can do thanks to this innovation that changed his life.
Despite some twists and turns linked to the experimental side of the approach – wires linked to the implant have retracted, weakening the effectiveness of the electrodes – Neuralink considers this a success. Last August, a second person received an implant with fixes made to prevent the issue from recurring. New transplants are planned in the coming months.
Neuralink now sees further ahead for 2025
Building on these first successes on humans, Neuralink now wants to go further in its experiments. On November 25, the company announced that it had received authorization from the American Food and Drug Administration for launch a new feasibility study concerning the association of its implant and an experimental robotic arm. This means that tests will take place to determine whether a brain implant would be able to control a prosthetic robotic arm, in order to offer more autonomy to the people concerned.
“This is an important first step towards restoring not only digital freedom, but also physical freedom”said a Neuralink spokesperson. Because, immediately, the implant allows its wearer to control a computer through thought, but does not give them access to particular physical abilities.
A marketing that is not for tomorrow
If the Neuralink trials are progressing well and should extend to Canada in the coming months, It will still take many years for the potential of the company's technologies to reach the brain of the general public. However, we cannot deny that progress is promising and that these technologies could, in the long term, greatly improve the daily lives of people with disabilities.
The possibility of controlling a robotic arm with the mind via a neural implant could as well help paralyzed people and those who have had their upper limbs amputated. Neuralink is still looking for people who would agree to play guinea pigs to, potentially, become the first true cyborgs in the history of humanity.
