Neuralink will test a neural interface to control a robotic arm

According to the agency, the goal of the trial is to evaluate the safety of the wireless neural interface and the surgical robot, as well as its impact on patients with quadriplegia, that is, paralysis of all limbs. Participants will be able to control external devices solely with the power of thought.

Last week, Neuralink received approval from Canadian regulator Health Canada to test its device in Canada. The study plans to include six patients with paralysis, which will be an important step to expand the geography of the program, notes Reuters.

“We are pleased to announce the approval and launch of a new study to explore the possibility of expanding control using the N1 implant to control an experimental robotic arm. “This is an important first step towards restoring not only digital freedom, but also physical freedom,” Neuralink said in X.

The company noted that this study is being conducted under the code name Convoy and that additional information will be provided later.

• Neuralink received approval from an independent review board in September 2023 for the first-in-human clinical trial of its brain implant chip. The company then began recruiting volunteers among patients with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• In January 2024, the company’s specialists implanted an implant in the human brain for the first time. In August, Neuralink successfully implanted a brain chip in a second patient. There are currently 400 electrodes working in your brain.