China's semi-invasive BMI helps patient with speech problems 'speak' Chinese

BEIJING -- A Chinese semi-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) research team has successfully completed multiple cases of full cortical BMI implantation, enabling an aphasic patient to output Chinese language and paralyzed patients to control computers and robotic arms.

According to a press conference held by the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR) and NeuCyber NeuroTech (Beijing) Co Ltd on Thursday, clinical evidence from the first cohort of patients implanted with the system demonstrated that over 98 percent of the BMI channels remain functional after the surgery.

The NeuCyber Matrix BMI System, a joint innovation by CIBR and NeuCyber, is a wireless BMI system featuring a thin, flexible nano-fabricated film microelectrode. It has a flux of 128-channel in semi-invasive device and is integrated with a compact micro-circuit for recording and processing electrocorticography (ECoG) signal.

According to the CIBR, for the first time, an aphasic patient has been able to output Chinese language through the semi-invasive BMI system, regaining the ability to communicate. The paralyzed patients are also successfully adapting to the system and using it to control external devices, compensating for their loss of motor function.