A man with ALS has become the first person in the world to control the Amazon Alexa digital assistant with his thoughts, thanks to a brain implant developed by a New York-based neurotech startup.
Syncron — Specialized company Medical Technology Solutions The company implanted a brain-computer interface (BCI) into the blood vessels in the brain of Mark, a 64-year-old man who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
ALS (formerly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is a neurological disease that affects motor neurons, nerve cells in the brain, and spinal cord. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Since being implanted with the device, which does not require open brain surgery, Mark has become the first person to operate an Amazon Fire tablet with his thoughts.
By tapping icons on the tablet with his mind, Mark can stream shows, make video calls, play music, control smart home devices, shop online and even read books, the Brooklyn-based company said in a press release. Business Wire.
Syncron's BCI is implanted into a blood vessel “on the surface of the brain's motor cortex via the jugular vein,” in what the company describes as a “minimally invasive endovascular procedure.”
The implant enabled Mark to “wirelessly transmit motor intent from his brain to a personal device,” enabling “hands-free point-and-click control.”
“The integration of smart technology and BCIs is really exciting. It's hard to imagine the modern world without being able to access and control connected devices such as Amazon's Alexa and Echo products, which are so prevalent in our daily lives,” Mark said.
“Being able to manage key aspects of your environment and control your access to entertainment can help you regain the independence you may have lost.”
By piloting integration with Alexa, the company hopes to expand the possibilities of smart home automation for people with severe paralysis.
“Syncron's BCIs bridge the gap between neurotechnology and consumer technology, empowering people with paralysis to regain control of their environments,” Syncron CEO and founder Tom Oxley said in a press release.
“While many smart home systems rely on voice and touch, we don't need these inputs and send control signals directly from the brain.”
Oxley said the company is “excited to be able to use BCI to access Alexa's capabilities” and believes its neurological technology “addresses a significant unmet need for millions of people with motor and speech disorders.”
In August, Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup owned by Elon Musk, announced plans to implant in a second subject a BCI designed to allow paralyzed patients to use digital devices using only their thoughts.
Noland Arbaugh, a 30-year-old Arizona man who was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident eight years ago, received the first-ever Neuralink implant in January of this year.
During a live stream of X in March, Arbaugh demonstrated how he could use his thoughts to control a computer cursor to play games and send emails.
In May, the device began to unexpectedly come loose from Arbaugh's skull, but it was announced that the problem had been resolved.
Musk said: Predicted He predicts that hundreds of people will own Neuralinks within a few years, and that “millions” will own it within a decade.
And in August, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne unveiled a brain that can convert thoughts into text with 91% accuracy, and it's even smaller than Neuralink's chip.
Advances in the industry are happening very quickly. FDA A workshop on clinical outcome evaluation of BCI was held in late September.
