▲ Brain-implantable chipThe Semiconductor design company ARM in UK and the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) at the of University of Washington have signed an agreement whereby the CSNE will develop a unique ‘brain-implantable’ system-on-a-chip (SoC) for bi-directional brain-computer interfaces (BBCI) aimed at solving neurodegenerative disorders.
The project aims to combat neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and paralysis with brain-grafted chips. Their long-term goal is to assist people affected by neurological conditions, by engineering neuro-technology that will help the body heal, feel and move again.
The project will use the Cortex-M0 processor, the smallest of the ARM's processors. Peter Ferguson said in an interview with the BBC that he created the initial prototype device, but the biggest problem is that it's power consumption and the heat that generates. They needed something ultra-small, ultra-low power. When this technology is completed, even if you have artificial body parts, you will be able to feel the soft fur of your animal companion and feel the warm body temperature of your loved ones.
However, it is expected that it will take 10 years for the project to be implemented in such a way as to be able to perform properly.
▲ Artificial handA team including researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, recently restored brain-controlled hand and arm movements from a fully paralyzed man for the first time. But Ferguson said, "Not just trying to read a signal in the brain, but trying to feed it back,". Namely, it is that CSNE is researching that the device receives the information returned to the brain and makes the senses feel.
“We are very excited to be collaborating with a company like Arm. Arm’s strong expertise in power-efficient microprocessors compliments the CSNE’s work in computational neuroscience and brain-computer interfacing, and we expect the partnership to lead to advances in not only medical technology but other applications as well, such as consumer electronics.” Dr. Scott Ransom, the CSNE’s Director of Industry Relations and Innovation, said his thoughts about the collaboration work.
August 19th, 2017. By Hwa Na Gyeong.
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