Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
Brain computer interfaces are about as cuting edge as you can get in the field of technology, and it is no surprise that billionaire Elon Musk is working in this space. Today, the team at Neuralink provided a progress update followed by a question and answer session. The folks at the company have been working very hard on this project, and today's update included the introduction of some piggy patients and a showcase of the latest version of the Link. Please take a look.
Neuralink's brain implant computing device is called Link, and today the company showed off version 0.9 of the product. Link V0.9 is 23x8 mm, will fit flush with a human skull, boasts all day battery life, and 6-axis IMU, temperature, and pressure sensors. Link V0.9 will also feature a megabit wireless data rate with post compression. There are also 1024 channels per Link for data to be sent to other devices like a smartphone. Getting a Link installed will take less than an hour and patients can leave the hospital on the same day. The surgery can also be accomplished without general anesthesia.
"The future is weird," said Musk during the question and answer session. While the current demo of Link V0.9 monitors a lot of physical functions in the body, but the team at Neuralink discussed how their product will be able to help paralyzed individuals walk again, or even give visually impaired people the ability to see again. They even made some claims that a form of telepathic communication could result from this technology. Musk even said that people would be able to replay memories down the road, or even back up their memories to a robot.
Today's presentation was not about getting patients, but Neuralink is recruiting employees, so now is a great time to apply if you are an engineer or brain expert in need of a job. Brain computing interfaces are truly in their infancy, but today's Neuralink presentation highlighted just how transformational this technology could be. Musk did mention that video games will likely be an application of the technology down the road, with the team repeatedly mentioning Starcraft as a benchmark. The company was a bit cagier on if they will be able to run Crysis, but how hard can that be? Even Nintendo Switch runs Crysis, Elon!