People who have lost their ability to move or speak may have the option to do so again, thanks to the development of surgically implanted devices that link the brain to a computer.
Several firms are now set to take brain-computer interface, or BCI, from the experimental stage to commercial usage more than 20 years after researchers first demonstrated that a person could move a computer cursor with their thoughts.
Implanted BCIs work by detecting and decoding signals coming from areas of the brain that control movement or speech. These signals indicate when a person is trying to move a limb or speak a word.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Neuralink is one of the most talked about players in the BCI field, but the first product to reach the market could possibly come from competitors BlackRock and Neurotech.
The first BCI users are likely to be people living with paralysis from a spinal injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Early products will allow them to control a computer cursor or generate artificial speech.
