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Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) company is entering its next phase of experiments: seeing if patients can move a robotic arm using their minds.
In a statement posted on X-formerly Twitter — also owned by Musk — the company announced that its new “feasibility trial” will investigate whether people can use its coin-sized brain chips to control a robot with their minds.
“This is an important first step,” the Neuralink post reads, “towards restoring not only digital freedom, but also physical freedom.”
Along with the teaser about the new capabilities, the company posted a link to its trial patient registry, suggesting that Neuralink is still looking for its ideal candidate.
Beyond the news that Neuralink would begin testing what Musk has in the past referred to as the “Luke Skywalker solution,” a lot remains unclear about the trial. It does appear, per the fine print on its patient registry page, that Canadians will be able to apply alongside their American counterparts to get a chip implanted into their brains and test out mind control on a robotic arm.
While this is an unprecedented step for Musk’s company, it’s not the first time such an endeavor has been undertaken.
Way back in 2015, Caltech researchers implanted what they called a “neural prosthetic device” into the brain of a paraplegic man named Erik Sorto that allowed him to control a robotic arm using his thoughts. In doing so, the man was able to give a handshake, play “rock, paper, scissors,” and even sip a beer.
Much like Neuralink’s first patient, Noland Arbaugh, Sorto described the sense of elation he felt when he was able to use the robotic arms to move after becoming paralyzed during a gang shootout when he was just 21.
“I wanted to drink my beer by myself and not asking anyone for help or anything like that,” the published author said during a local newspaper interview in 2017. “It was an out-of-body experience. I wanted to jump out of my chair, hug everyone, carry them around if I could carry them around and high five everybody.”
“It was so much joy,” Sorto continued. “My body was full of joy.”
Though Musk often attracts attention for his cringeworthy antics and increasingly dangerous politicking, Neuralink is one silver lining among his portfolio — as long as you don’t think too hard about all those monkeys from the company’s early experiments, that is.
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