DARPA is doing research into hi-res brain computer interfaces

[SolarpunkFan]

This article is about a month old, but I haven't seen the news posted here.

DARPA looks to develop a high-res brain-computer interface

The idea of the brain being able to talk to a computer isn’t all that new, but military researchers are looking to take it to the next level, with e neural interface that can connect with up to 1 million neurons in a given region of the brain at a time.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Neural Engineering System Design, or NESD, program is looking to greatly expand the “signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth” between brain signals and the digital world of computers as a way to improve therapies for sight or hearing, according to a DARPA announcement. The agency is planning to spend up to $60 million over four years on the program, with the goal of developing a biocompatible device of about one cubic centimeter, which DARPA said is about the size of two nickels pressed together.

Current neural interfaces, generally used with people who are paralyzed and need to communicate with their eyes, work with about 100 channels, each collecting signals from tens of thousands of neurons. That might sound like a lot, but the brain has millions of neurons and DARPA’s NESD plans to up that total to about a million, in order to raise the level of communication between brain and computer.

“Today’s best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem,” Phillip Alvelda, the NESD program manager, said in DARPA’s announcement. “Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics.”

[biostem]

One thing I've always wondered is if, as this technology progresses, it'll take the route of the user having to learn how to control this stuff, or whether it'll just tap into existing thought patterns, (like how some prosthetic arms require you learn to control certain chest or back muscles to move the arm).

[Esquire]

The first is a whole lot easier to do without extensive brain surgery. For what that's worth.

[Esquire]

Or, I guess, an electrode hat like they use for brain scans. Sorry, forgot that was a thing.

[SolarpunkFan]

Or, I guess, an electrode hat like they use for brain scans. Sorry, forgot that was a thing.

There's also the (experimental) stentrode idea, but what I'm getting from this article is that surgery would be necessary for this high resolution implant.