Neuralink: Monkey MindPong
April 8th, 2021What Neuralink is showing here is very trivial.
See:
Mattel Mindflex toy, circa 2009, non-invasive EEG, used chip from Neurosky.
The difference with Neuralink is that there might be potential for higher order cognitive functionality with that interface. However, as with Musk’s robotaxis, don’t hold your breath.
Via: Neuralink:
By modeling the relationship between different patterns of neural activity and intended movement directions, we can build a model (i.e., “calibrate a decoder”) that can predict the direction and speed of an upcoming or intended movement. We can go further than simply predicting the most likely intended movement given the current pattern of brain activity: we can use these predictions to control, in real time, the movements of a computer cursor, or in the video below, a MindPong paddle. The neurons with upward preferred directions clearly increase their firing rates as the monkey moves his MindPong paddle upward, and the ones with downward preferred directions increase their firing rates as Pager moves his paddle downward.
