Elon Musk to reveal more about brain-computer tech startup Neuralink on August 28

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vbh3t7WVI

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