Elon Musk teases huge update on Neuralink brain implant patient leaving people shocked over ‘phenomenal achievement’
In March, Neuralink’s first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, successfully used the technology to control the mouse cursor on his laptop
ELON Musk’s Neuralink has claimed a human patient used one of its brain chips to control a robot arm with their mind.
In a short clip posted on X, a robot arm holding a pen slowly wrote the word “convoy” on a whiteboard.
Convoy is the name of the Neuralink study focusing on using the company’s N1 brain chip to control a robotic arm.
“I don’t think most people understand what’s happening here: Neuralink’s patient is controlling a robotic arm with his mind,” one onlooker wrote on X.
“Not a joystick, not a muscle sensor, just his thoughts.”
Musk replied, to seemingly confirm what people were seeing in the video, saying “true”.
The 30-second clip doesn’t reveal who is controlling the machine.
Three human patients have had the chips inserted in their brains so far.
The Convoy study, first announced in November, aims to give people with disabilities, particularly quadriplegics, the power of limb control.
“I’m one of the many paralysed people so happy for his progress with Neuralink,” a second person wrote on X.
A third person called the progress a “phenomenal achievement”.
In March, Neuralink’s first human patient to have the N1 surgically implanted in his brain, Noland Arbaugh, successfully used the technology to control the mouse cursor on his laptop.
Arbaugh, a quadriplegic, used the tech to play Mario Kart and live stream on his PC using just his brain.
He previously had to rely on mouth-operated controllers to play video games.
The N1 brain chip reads brain signals, and translates them into Bluetooth-based commands that can control a remote device – like a game controller, or robot arm.
Neuralink’s second patient, Alex, was also able to swap out a mouth operated gaming controller last August for something more advanced – mind control.
“Just running around is so enjoyable because I can look side to side, and not need to move Quadstick left and right,” Alex said at the time.
“I can [think about where to] look and it goes where I want it to. It’s insane.”
What is Neuralink?
Here's what you need to know...
- Neuralink is a project that aims to embed computer chips in people’s brains
- The idea is to give humans hyper-intelligence by merging them with artificial intelligence
- Tiny threads thinner than a human hair would pump information into your noggin
- It would work a bit like an internet cable, transmitting data in and out at high speeds
- As well as making us smarter, the project promises to merge us with computers and phones
- That means you could control your gizmos with your brain
- Neuralink is bankrolled by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk
- He’s previously said the tech could save us from a machine uprising in future