The brain-computer interface developer allows patients with limited physical mobility to control the Apple Vision Pro using their thoughts. Apple Vision Pro can depend on hand gestures to move cursors and make selections.
The brain-computer interface developer said that a participant, a 64-year-old man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who lost the ability of his upper limbs, could use his thoughts to play games, watch videos, and send text messages. “Using this type of enhanced reality is so impactful, and I can imagine it would be for others in my position or others who have lost the ability to engage in their day-to-day life,” the patient, Mark, said in a release.
Synchron is a BCI developer founded in the United States around 2016. The brain chip company makes tools to treat medical problems. The company has inserted its BCI in six patients in the United States and four in Australia. Synchron needs approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to sell their technology.
Synchron is part of a competitive brain-computer interface industry. The company declared on Tuesday that they have, for the first time, connected their system to the Apple Vision Pro. Organizations like Paradromics, Blackrock Neurotech, and Neuralink, the company of Elon Musk, are also expanding BCI systems.
“BCI is a platform to re-connect people with injury or disease back to the fast-moving consumer technology landscape,” said founder and CEO Tom Oxley, Ph.D. “We are moving towards a new Bluetooth standard for Human-Computer Interactions that don’t require touch or speech. This is a critical unmet need for millions of people with paralysis.”
A doctor inserts BCI through the patient’s jugular vein, eliminating the need for the patient to undergo brain surgery. The blood vessel that rests on the surface of the brain’s motor cortex dispenses the BCI. An antenna located under the skin in the chest is connected to it.
Users can control the Apple Vision Pro with their eyes, voice, and hand gestures. The brain chip company aims to make the device usable to anyone who can’t speak or move their arms. The CEO of Synchron, Thomas Oxley, thinks Apple’s iOS platform is the best in class. That’s why Synchron decided to help people with Apple’s ecosystem. Apple company was encouraged by the idea of a brain chip company.
“I think BCI is very well placed to add huge value as a synergistic integration into the Apple ecosystem,” Oxley said. The 64-year-old patient declared that controlling the headset isn’t different from using it to control his iPhone, iPad, and computer.
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