LogInThe company wants to move into the physical world as well.
Earlier this year, the first human who received a Neuralink implant, Elon Musk's brain chip, managed to play Slay the Spire and Old School RuneScape with his head, and research has progressed further since then.
Neuralink's second human recipient Alex is now also enjoying video games: he plays Counter-Strike with his mind. Alex suffered a spinal cord injury and before Neuralink used the QuadStick, "a mouth operated joystick with sip-and-puff pressure sensors and a lip position sensor for clicking."
He couldn't move and aim at the same time with QuadStick, but now he can enjoy the freedom.
"Just running around is so enjoyable because I can look side to side, and not need to move Quadstick left and right… I can [think about where to] look and it goes where I want it to. It's insane," he said.
Valve
Apart from Counter-Strike, Alex can now build 3D models. On day two of using the Link, he designed a custom mount for the Neuralink charger in Fusion 360, which was then 3D-printed and integrated.
"We are working with Alex to increase his productivity with the Link by mapping intended movements to different types of mouse clicks (e.g., left, right, middle), thereby expanding the number of controls he has and enabling him to quickly switch between various modes in CAD software (e.g., zoom, scroll, pan, click-and-drag)," the researchers said.
They also noted that Alex broke the previous world record for brain-computer interface cursor control with a non-Neuralink device on the very first day of using the Link. In the future, the company wants to make the Link interact with the physical world, "allowing users to feed themselves and move more independently by controlling a robotic arm or their wheelchair."
At the moment, they are working on decoding multiple clicks and simultaneous movement intents to enable full mouse and game controller functionality. They are also developing algorithms to recognize handwriting intent so the participants can write faster.
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