Key points
- StairMed’s device is said to have fewer probes than Neuralink’s device
- China does not have a long history in the field as compared to the US: expert
- But “BCI research in China is developing very fast”: researcher
ISLAMABAD: Chinese scientists are experimenting with a deep brain device that allows a man with no limbs to play computer games is one of an increasing number of brain–computer interfaces (BCI) being trialled in people in the country.
Brain–computer interfaces being trialled in China offer some advantages over Neuralink and other leading US devices.
According to Nature, the BCI system, developed by medical-technology company StairMed in Shanghai, China, is similar to the implants being trialled in people by Neuralink, owned by Elon Musk, based in Fremont, California.
Less invasive
StairMed’s device is said to have fewer probes than Musk’s Neuralink’s device, but is smaller and less invasive.
According to researchers, China doesn’t have the long history in the field as compared to the United States.
But “BCI research in China is developing very fast”, says Zhengwu Liu, an electrical engineer at the University of Hong Kong.
Improving algorithms
Researchers in China are advancing the field on several fronts, such as by improving algorithms used to decode neural data and the implantation devices, says Christian Herff, a neural engineer at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who co-organised a meeting on BCI in Shanghai last year.
