Factbox-What does Elon Musk’s mind chip firm Neuralink do? By Reuters

(Reuters) – Neuralink, the Elon Musk firm that Reuters reported on Monday is the goal of a federal investigation over its animal trial program, has been making an attempt to develop a mind chip that may allow the paralyzed to stroll and the blind to see.

Right here is extra on what Neuralink does.

WHAT IS NEURALINK DEVELOPING?

Based in 2016 by Musk and a bunch of engineers, Neuralink is constructing a mind chip interface that may be implanted throughout the cranium, which it says might finally assist disabled sufferers to maneuver and talk once more, and in addition restore imaginative and prescient.

Neuralink’s machine has a chip that processes and transmits neural alerts that could possibly be transmitted to gadgets like a pc or a telephone.

The corporate hopes that an individual would doubtlessly have the ability to management a mouse, keyboard or different laptop capabilities like textual content messaging with their ideas.

“First @Neuralink product will allow somebody with paralysis to make use of a smartphone with their thoughts sooner than somebody utilizing thumbs,” Musk stated in April 2021.

Neuralink additionally believes its machine will finally have the ability to restore neural exercise contained in the physique, permitting these with spinal twine accidents to maneuver limbs. The San Francisco and Austin-based firm additionally aspires to treatment neurological circumstances equivalent to Alzheimer’s and dementia.

WHAT PROGRESS HAS NEURALINK MADE?

Neuralink has produced a number of examples of testing facets of its know-how efficiently on animals, together with a video in 2021 that confirmed a macaque enjoying a easy videogame after being implanted with a mind chip. In a presentation webcast final week, the corporate showcased enhancements within the pace and capabilities of the chip.

Neuralink has but to safe U.S. regulatory approval to maneuver to human trials – in contrast to competitor Synchron, which has much less formidable targets for its medical advances. Neuralink has missed Musk’s publicly said deadlines to start out human trials and this yr submitted its software to the Meals and Drug Administration to start them. Musk stated final week he believes Neuralink can begin human scientific trials in six months.