Imagine being able to control a computer or speak words just by thinking about them! 🧠 That might sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but in the Chinese mainland, scientists have made it a reality.
Recently, a team of researchers has helped a patient who couldn’t speak to communicate again using a special device called a brain-machine interface, or BMI for short.
A BMI is a system that connects our brains directly to a computer or machine. It can read the signals from our brain and turn them into actions, like moving a robot arm or speaking words on a screen.
For the first time, an aphasic patient (that’s someone who can’t speak due to illness or injury) was able to say words in Chinese through this BMI system. Isn’t that amazing?
The scientists used a special device called the NeuCyber Matrix BMI System. It’s like a super-thin, flexible sheet with tiny electrodes that they placed on the surface of the person’s brain. But don’t worry, it’s semi-invasive, which means it’s less risky than going deep into the brain.
Thanks to this technology, the patient started training to use the system. After just three hours, they could decode words with 34% accuracy, and it got better over time! Soon, they were able to ‘say’ things like “I want to drink water” and “I’m in a great mood today.”
Not only that, but paralyzed patients, who can’t move their bodies, have also been able to use this system to control computers and robotic arms, just by thinking!
This technology could change the lives of many people who have lost the ability to speak or move due to diseases like ALS (a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord).
One of the scientists, Li Yuan, said, “BMI technology can help speech-impaired patients regain their communication abilities. With synthetic speech technology, what they want to say can even be heard.”
This is a big step forward in helping people with serious illnesses, and the scientists plan to keep working on this technology to help even more patients. Who knows, maybe in the future, we will all be able to control computers with our minds! 🤖
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
