Robotics Chinese Researchers Develop Implanting Robot for BCI

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CyberSense is a highly specialized "implanting robot" developed at the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Its performance goes far beyond that of a conventional surgical aid.

Henrik Bork, a longtime China correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Frankfurter Rundschau, is Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consulting agency specializing in China, based in Beijing. 

The device is reminiscent of a sewing machine threading through a piece of fabric. However, what moves here is finer than any textile. It is a microscopically thin wire, soft and flexible, barely visible to the naked eye. And what is being pierced is not fabric, but the brain of a test animal.

A robot named "CyberSense" controls the process. It was developed at the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as reported by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

CyberSense is more than just an ordinary surgical aid. It is a highly specialized "implanting robot," designed for a task that could not previously be reliably accomplished either by human hands or with technical aids.

Comparable to R1 Robot by Elon Musk's Company Neuralink

CyberSense is thus comparable to the "R1 Robot," developed by Elon Musk's company Neuralink for implanting its still experimental, coin-sized "N1 Implant."

This "Brain-Computer Interface" or BCI has already been implanted in initial test subjects with spinal cord injuries and will now also be tested on ALS patients. An initial trial report was published earlier this year in the scientific journal "Nature Medicine."

In China, they are not quite that advanced yet, but CyberSense has already been tested in initial animal experiments on the brains of "rodents and non-human primates" and has achieved initial good results, as the Chinese research director at CAS noted to Xinhua.

Implant Microelectrodes to the Millimeter in the Cerebral Cortex

The millimeter-precise implantation of flexible microelectrodes into the cerebral cortex of laboratory animals is already working in Beijing. Just like with Elon Musk's Neuralink, this allows for some hope for the future that one day the paralyzed could walk again and the blind could see again—at least those with certain types of nerve damage. However, it will still take quite some time until neurosurgery overcomes all other hurdles, regardless of the country.

Under the guidance of intelligent sensors, the robot achieves three-dimensional precision in the micrometer range to implant filaments that are several tens of micrometers thick and 100 micrometers (0.004 inches) wide, actively avoiding blood vessels in the process.

Yu Shan, CAS

Only One-Tenth as Thick as a Human Hair

The technical advancement achieved by the CAS team here is nevertheless remarkable. These implantable electrodes are only about one-tenth as thick as a human hair and much softer. Their flexibility significantly reduces the risk of tissue damage and rejection reactions.

However, the same properties make them extremely difficult to handle. A robot that can accurately implant them into tissue is very likely the only realistic way forward for this medical technology.

"Under the guidance of intelligent sensors, the robot achieves three-dimensional precision in the micrometer range to implant filaments that are several tens of micrometers thick and 100 micrometers (0.004 inches) wide, actively avoiding blood vessels in the process," says Yu Shan, who works at CAS as the director of the "Laboratory for Brain Mapping and Artificial Intelligence at the Academy."

Relay Neural Signals from the Brain to Microchips

According to its developers, the new technology is thus very precise and consequently relatively gentle. CyberSense allows for the targeted implantation of electrodes "with minimal trauma," it is said.

The robot recognizes vessels in real time and automatically avoids them, they say. Once implanted, the flexible microwires then relay neural signals from the brain to microchips. These decode brain activity and can either control devices or send electrical impulses to specific brain areas for therapeutic stimulation.

Enable Implantations With Minimal Safety Risk

"This machine can implant flexible electrodes, still approximately as thick as a hair, precisely into the brain of test animals, providing crucial support for brain-computer interfaces and brain research," the Chinese science newspaper Keji Ribao summarizes the characteristics of CyberSense.

"How to capture large amounts of high-quality neural signals while minimizing the safety risks associated with implantation is one of the main challenges of this technology," said CAS researcher Qin Fangbo to the Chinese newspaper Yangzi Wanbao.

The Chinese implanting robot reportedly supports various electrode formats, which come from the semiconductor institute of the same academy and a startup named "We-Linking," among others.

The new electrodes could not only decode movement signals or thought patterns but theoretically also generate speech or restore lost sensory perceptions.

scientist, CAS

Interdisciplinary Research Essential

CyberSense is the result of targeted interdisciplinary research. Experts from the fields of robotics, semiconductor technology, neurosurgery, materials science, and artificial intelligence have contributed.

Of course, the Chinese researchers are already thinking beyond animal experiments. The new electrodes could not only decode movement signals or thought patterns but theoretically also generate speech or restore lost sensory perceptions, they say in interviews.

Technically, the Chinese developers emphasize, it is already possible today for a paralyzed person to control a cursor with thoughts alone or for a blind person to recognize visual patterns.

Download Knowledge Directly into the Brain

Even the currently science-fiction realm of cognitive enhancement, where knowledge is downloaded directly into the brain (Neo in the movie Matrix: "I know Kung Fu!"), will become conceivable in perspective.

Privacy experts should start thinking about the implications this has. However, students shouldn't count on such applications being available in the near future.

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