Can a Monkey Play Ping Pong with its Brain?
Neural engineering is a rapidly growing field that consists of developing artificial neural networks. Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) are a subfield of neural engineering that encompass the relationship between biological and artificial neurons and how the two can interact with each other to maximize brain function. Neuralink is a neural engineering company that is striving to design a BMI that helps parapalegic people complete tangible tasks just with their brains. To reach this goal, many experiments have gone underway including their latest experiment with a monkey playing ping pong on a screen. The Neuralink scientists were able to use electrodes to condition a monkey to play the game on the screen by just controlling the ball with their brain. Crazy right?
Who is Neuralink?
Neuralink is a company founded by Elon Musk whose goal is to develop devices that will help people with neurological disorders and paralysis. Their primary focus is to invent a neural implant they call the “Link” which will let you control a computational device just by using your brain. The Link itself is an implant that is able to both process and transmit neural signals. This implant is connected to electrodes that detect these signals and send them to biological neurons in the subject’s brain.
There are currently other BMI devices that already exist. For example, a popular BMI is a deep brain stimulation mechanism that is used for Parkinson’s Disease. However, this mechanism only consists of about 4–8 electrodes and is much larger in size than the Neuralink implant. The “Link” is different from other BMI devices because of its small size and magnitude of electrodes. It connects to 1024 channels of electrodes which will allow the implant to be extremely versatile in task and replicates the biological neural system more accurately.
Monkey and Ping Pong
In order to create a successful version of this chip, Neuralink has done years of trials on animals. Their most recent trial on a monkey has been a newsworthy finding as the monkey successfully completed a computational task with just his brain. The experiment revolved around a ping pong game on a large TV screen. The team of scientists inserted the “Link” into the arm and hand area of the monkey’s motor cortex in his brain to see how it affected his performance. At first, the monkey used the controller to move the ping pong ball. However, when they took away the monkey’s controller, he was able to continue the task of moving the ping pong ball. The placement of the “Link” allowed the monkey to carry out the motor task of controlling a screen by just thinking about where the ping pong ball should go. Fascinating!
Next Steps
Though their current research was quite successful, Neuralink still has many steps to take in order to reach their final goal. Now that they know the link they developed can carry out motor tasks, their upcoming experiments will likely expand on the safety of the product. Once the safety of the product is approved, Neuralink plans on administering the “Link” first to people who are severely parayzed, but then hope to move on to helping people with other neurological disorders in the future.
