A patient with a degenerative disease was capable of control Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa along with his thoughts, the corporate behind the technological innovation announced on Monday. This allowed him to stream shows and control devices using only his thoughts.
An implant in a blood vessel on the surface of the 64-year-old man’s brain enabled him to mentally “tap” symbols on an Amazon Fire tablet, brain-computer interface company Synchron said.
The patient, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), was capable of make video calls, play music, stream shows, control smart home devices corresponding to lights, shop online and browse books by controlling Alexa along with his thoughts, in line with the New York-based company.
ALS is a degenerative nerve disease that results in muscle weakness and paralysis.
“Being able to manage important aspects of my environment and control access to entertainment gives me back the independence I lose,” the patient, whose name is just Mark, said in a press release.
The test was designed to display how customers could control smart homes with Alexa-compatible devices corresponding to door cameras, plugs and thermostats using just their thoughts, the corporate said.
“While many smart home systems are based on voice or touch, we send control signals directly from the brain,” said Synchron founder and CEO Tom Oxley within the press release.
“Patients can interact with devices in their home hands-free and speechless, using only their thoughts.”
Several firms, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, are working to attach brains to computers.
Neuralink implanted a brain implant in January in a person who was paralyzed after a diving accident. Musk, who also owns Tesla and X, hailed the implant as a hit.
In July, he said his startup was now moving on to a second test patient as its technology improves.
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