If you look cross-eyed when you see the hundreds of television channels included with most home streaming subscriptions, imagine the complexity of of organizing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that supports more than 10,000 signal channels simultaneously. Salt Lake City-based Blackrock Neurotech recently showed Neuralace, the company’s next-generation BCI at the Society of Neuroscience 2022 in San Diego in October, 2022.
We’ve written about (BCI) developments with prosthetic hands that help restore a patient’s sense of touch for various activities such as holding a toothbrush, playing chess, and playing the piano. Blackrock’s next-gen BCI’s giant leap in simultaneous channels may open the way to apply the technology to vastly more complicated tasks. A Blackrock news release mentioned possible applications in areas such as vision and memory restoration, performance prediction, and the treatment of mental health disorders.
The Neuralace system is scalable. The company release claims the flexible, lace-structured chip can “capture data that is orders of magnitude greater than existing electrodes, allowing for an exponential increase in capability and intuitiveness.” The primary goal is to develop technology that connects to larger and larger areas of the brain with the least possible tissue irritation.
According Blackrock’s schedule, Neuralace will be ready for neuroscience research by 2024. As BCI technology develops, the potential applications seem to increase rapidly, with the promise to improve the lives of millions.
