All posts tagged: BrainComputer

China’s brain-computer interface industry is racing ahead

China’s brain-computer interface industry is racing ahead

Published by skeptic

While Elon Musk’s Neuralink likes to say it’s “pioneering” brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), China’s BCI industry is already quietly moving from research to scale. A new wave of startups is racing to commercialize both implantable and noninvasive BCIs, backed by stronger policy support, expanding clinical trials, and growing investor interest. So says Phoenix Peng, who has founded not one, but two BCI startups. He’s a co-founder of NeuroXess, maker of BCI implants, as well as founder and CEO of noninvasive ultrasound BCI startup Gestala. His belief in the potential of this market is founded on concrete action: Provinces such as Sichuan, Hubei, and Zhejiang have already set medical service pricing for BCI, speeding its inclusion in the national medical insurance system. Over time, he foresees the technology extending beyond medicine “treating disease” to “human augmentation,” he said. “I have always maintained that neuroscience and AI are two sides of the same coin. They are destined for deep integration, realizing direct high-bandwidth connections between the human brain and AI. BCI will serve as the ultimate bridge between …

This Chinese Startup Wants to Build a New Brain-Computer Interface—No Implant Required

This Chinese Startup Wants to Build a New Brain-Computer Interface—No Implant Required

Published by skeptic

China’s brain-computer interface industry is growing fast, and the newest company to emerge from the country is aiming to access the brain without the use of invasive implants. Gestala, newly founded in Chengdu with offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, plans to use ultrasound technology to stimulate—and eventually read from—the brain, according to CEO and cofounder Phoenix Peng. It’s the second company to launch in recent weeks with the aim of tapping into the brain with ultrasound. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced a major investment in brain-computer interface startup Merge Labs, cofounded by its CEO, Sam Altman, along with other tech executives and members of Forest Neurotech, a California-based nonprofit research organization. Best known as a type of medical test, ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of internal organs and to visualize blood flow. One of the most common uses of ultrasound is to monitor the development of a fetus during pregnancy. But researchers have also been interested in ultrasound’s potential to treat diseases, not just diagnose them. Depending on the intensity of …

Breakthrough Brain-Computer Interface Is Minimally Invasive

Breakthrough Brain-Computer Interface Is Minimally Invasive

Published by Jenni Sidey

An important milestone has been achieved in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. A new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering shows how a high-performance brain-computer interface can be rapidly implanted through a minimally invasive procedure. “We have demonstrated that the entire surgical procedure for cranial micro-slit insertion, from initial skin incision to endoscope-guided array placement and final securing of the array positions, can be safely performed in under 20 minutes,” wrote corresponding author Benjamin Rapoport, MD, PhD, along with his team of neuroscientists at Precision Neuroscience. Rapoport is a brain-computer interface pioneer, neurosurgeon, engineer, and one of the original eight Neuralink employees who co-founded Elon Musk’s BCI startup in 2016. Rapoport left Neuralink two years later. He is currently the Chief Science Officer of Precision Neuroscience who co-founded the company in 2021 along with Michael Mager and others, including former Neuralink employees. Brain Computer Interfaces: Mind-Reading Tech Brain computer interfaces are potentially life-changing technology that enable users to control external devices to perform daily tasks such as moving wheelchairs and robotic limbs, exoskeletons, synthesized speech, communications, …