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Monkey Mindpong (Neuralink latest development)

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  1. PetitPrince
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    This more practical demo compared to the last one where we only saw recording from pigs. Here we see a monkey controlling a 2D cursor on a screen, and another demo with a monkey playing a game of...

    This more practical demo compared to the last one where we only saw recording from pigs. Here we see a monkey controlling a 2D cursor on a screen, and another demo with a monkey playing a game of pong (less impressive since it's 1D, sexier since it's a video-game).

    This replicates what could already be done with EEG ten-ish years ago (pong , 2D cursor), and I assume the next demo using their device to do motor things would be to replicate this 3D arm control using ECoG demo.

    Context:

    • EEG = electroencephalography: Place electrodes on the surface of the scalp, record the electrical signal coming from the brain, do fun stuff with it
    • ECoG = electrocorticography: Same thing as EEG (essentially electrodes), but put it on the surface of the brain so that you bypass the skull, skin, hair and sort of avoid the recording artifact you can have while doing EEG (like when you blink an eye, the electrical activity of your eye movement pollutes the signal).
    • The neuralink stuff: a miniature ECoG-like device with a remarkable density of electrodes, and also some preprocessing on board so that you have the relevent brain activity for a particular task transferable with Bluetooth. Also remarkable : the litteral implementation detail (they use a robot to help implant the device since its so small).

    Disclaimer : have studied the field during my master degree, But that was a few years ago.

    3 votes