Neuralink has received permission from Health Canada to test that proposition in Canada in a new study called Convoy.

We’re excited to announce the approval and launch of a new feasibility trial to extend BCI control using the N1 Implant to an investigational assistive robotic arm.

This is an important first step towards restoring not only digital freedom, but also physical freedom. More info…

— Neuralink (@neuralink) November 25, 2024

Video is available below:

Just imagine being able to control this with Neuralink… it’s happening. pic.twitter.com/jMf8vfsiKx

— Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) November 25, 2024

The basic technology is brain–computer interface (BCI). The human brain, like electronics, runs on electricity. Thus, a small device implanted in the brain can enable a user to control an electronic device via signals from the user’s neurons.

As Emily Mullin explains at Wired,

On social media earlier this year, Neuralink demonstrated that its BCI can be used to control a computer cursor. In a video on X, study participant Noland Arbaugh was shown using the Neuralink device to play chess and other games on a computer. Arbaugh, who became a quadriplegic after a swimming accident in 2016, spoke with WIRED earlier this year about how the implant has given him a sense of independence.

Arbaugh underwent brain surgery in January to receive the Neuralink implant, but a few weeks later, the device started to malfunction. The implant has 64 thin, flexible wire threads that penetrate the brain tissue. Each thread contains 16 electrodes that collect neural signals. In a blog post from May, Neuralink said several threads had retracted from Arbaugh’s brain, causing him to temporarily lose cursor control. Neuralink was able to restore Arbaugh’s control by modifying its brain recording algorithm to be more sensitive and changing how it translates neural signals into cursor movements.

“Neuralink Plans to Test Whether Its Brain Implant Can Control a Robotic Arm,” November 25, 2024

Thus the system can work in principle. But the question is, will it work well enough to enable quadriplegics to do daily tasks? Arbaugh, after all, was only trying to control a cursor with his thoughts. How natural will the movement of a robotic arm be? Will it enable a person who suffers from quadriplegia to do simple daily living tasks?

We are told that further information about the new trials will be available tomorrow here:

In this video, we explore Neuralink’s exciting new feasibility trial to expand BCI control with the N1 Implant to an assistive robotic arm. This groundbreaking step aims to restore both digital and physical freedom, with the CONVOY Study enabling cross-enrollment from the ongoing PRIME Study.

Brian Dekleva, a research scientist at the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs at the University of Pittsburgh, says the biggest challenge in achieving BCI control of an assistive robotic arm is the need for calibration. “The more complicated the control, the more degrees of freedom you add, the longer the calibration is going to take in general,” he says. “People don’t want to sit and do a half-hour calibration at the beginning of each day so that they can use their device.” “Control a Robotic Arm”

Note: It’s curious that the study is called CONVOY. That word has a certain resonance in Canada, where the Convoy protests against the COVID lockdowns echoed worldwide.

You may also wish to read: FDA lists Neuralink’s blindsight as a breakthrough device. Researchers hope to restore human vision by bypassing damaged optic nerves to directly stimulate the visual cortex with microelectrodes. Although the optimism is contagious, it is early days yet and many obstacles like between proof of concept and practical usefulness.

Man uses the power of thought to make a computer speak for him. The goal for a man with ALS was to synthesize his voice so the computer would speak for him when he thought the sounds. While brain–computer interfaces might give us superhuman powers in science fiction, they will likely mainly compensate for lost human ones.

and

Will Neuralink’s brain implant help paralysis victims? Addressing disabilities like paralysis, limb loss, and blindness seems a more realistic goal than the hyped (and feared) human–machine hybrids. When Elon Musk announced his first implant recipient late last month, a broad public first learned that many people with disabilities use implants now.