A Look Into The Future Of Wireless Brain-Computer Interfaces.

 

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) or what some call the mind-machine interface is a system of connecting a human brain through wires or wirelessly to a machine in order to generate signals from the brain, transmit them to a computer and through a bidirectional information flow mechanism allow the computer to control motor functions of the human brain.

The idea of a mind-machine interface was popular in the 1970s but it was not until the 1990s that prosthetic devices that were attached to the brain appeared to be viable. One of the concepts behind these mind-machine devices is to capture the electrical activity of the brain through electroencelography (EEG), transmit them to a machine and then the machine generates signals that are able to control the functioning of the brain. Professor Jacques Vidal of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is credited with inventing the first BCI machine. This concept has been applied in neuroprosthetics which is the use of artificial devices to replace the function of impaired nervous functions and brain related problems.

Thanks to this inventive and innovative approach, many persons who have lost their vision, motor movements, and other body functions such as in paralysis, can be able to live normal lives using these machines. A breakthrough in BCI devices and neuroprosthetics was accomplished in 2009 when Alex Blainey, an independent researcher living in the UK, was able to control a 5 axis robot arm using the Emotiv EPOC. These devices could help even someone who has lost control of their spinal cord through a disease or injury to regain full movement .

One drawback though was that not only do they require wires but they can generate energy in the brain of recipients. A wired BCI device can limit the movement of the person on whose brain it is implanted. They would not be free to move at ease. While a BCI device generating enormous energy could do harm to the person on whom it is implanted.

Now, these challenges could be a thing of the past as research has suggested that neural implants in the brain could be done wirelessly while generating just one-tenth of the power of existing devices.

A team of electrical engineers and neuroscientists from Stanford University successfully created a breakthrough device that could give recipients a wider range of movement while not exposing them to harm through the heat generated by the implanted device. To test their data, they tried out their experiment on three nonhuman primates and one human participant in a clinical trial. Then while the subjects performed several movements by communicating with the computer using their brains, the researchers took extensive measurements. The results of the research validated the hypothesis from the researchers that a wireless device for neuroprosthesis was possible and commercially viable while using less power.

Only time would tell when the actual device would be built that would actually achieve the goal of the research: a mind-machine device that was safe yet wireless. The future of wireless brain-computer interfaces is just within reach.