The ability for humans to control machines using only their minds has taken a step forward through a system called Neuralink. A new video shows a monkey playing Pong with its mind using Elon Musk’s thought-controlled device.
Brain-machine interface allows monkey to play video games with its mind
Imagine being able to control any device using only your thoughts. That ability has become one step closer to reality through the development of a system called Neuralink, a project started by entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla motors, Elon Musk.
In February, Musk claimed that, through the use of his Neuralink system, a monkey had been able to successfully play video games using only its mind, IFL Science reported. Now, the company has posted a video proving the claim, showing the wireless brain-machine interface in action being operated by a live monkey that received an implant six weeks prior.
A newly released YouTube video entitled “Monkey Mind Pong” shows a 9-year-old macaque named “Pager” that has a Neuralink device implanted into its brain playing the classic videogame Pong.
Monkey is amazingly good at Pong using only its brain
First, the video shows the monkey playing Pong using its hand on a joystick. In the video, Neuralink explains that, the system had been wired up and had captured data related to the arm and hand regions of the monkey’s motor cortex, which then helped to create a detailed picture of neural activity patterns associated with the movement of the joystick.
The system then decoded the neural activity using algorithms, which ultimately learned through artificial intelligence to predict the direction and speed of the monkey’s upcoming or intended hand movements.
But where things get amazing is when the joystick is unplugged. At that point, the Neuralink device continued to track the monkey’s neural activity and wirelessly transmitted the data to a decoding system, then in turn, produced corresponding movements on the screen.
The result: The monkey was able to play Pong using only its mind and was amazingly good at it – even when the game play was sped up.
The ultimate goal is to help people with disabilities
In the video, the narrator explains: “Our goal is to enable a person with paralysis to use a computer or phone with their brain activity alone.”
On Friday, CNN reported that Elon Musk tweeted: “will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.”
NDTV reported that, in another tweet, Musk wrote: “Later versions of the Neuralink will be able to shunt signals from Neuralinks in brain to Neuralinks in body motor/sensory neuron clusters, thus enabling, for example, paraplegics to walk again.”
Treatment of animals
What keeps the monkey motivated for play, is quite naturally, a reward.
“He’s learned to interact with a computer for a tasty banana smoothie delivered through a straw,” the narrator in the video says.
Previously to testing with monkeys, Neuralink said it had also placed implants into the brains of rodents and pigs, with Musk insisting that all animals are treated as humanely as possible.
