Caltech scientists develop least invasive mind-machine control technology

California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) has achieved a breakthrough in the development of Functional ultrasound (fUS), which represents a major advancement in Brain-Machine Interface technology, providing a less invasive means of precise control over electronic devices by interpreting brain activity.

Brain activity can be read by brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), which then transform it into control of an electrical device such as a computer cursor or prosthetic arm. 

They claim to make it possible for paralysed individuals to control prosthetic limbs with their thoughts.

To measure cerebral activity, several BMIs require invasive brain procedures to install electrodes. 

But in 2021, using a far less intrusive method called functional ultrasonography (fUS), Caltech researchers discovered a way to read brain activity.

According to a recent study, fUS technology can serve as the foundation for an "online" BMI. This type of BMI would read brain activity, interpret it using machine learning-programmed decoders, and then use that information to run a computer that would precisely predict movement with very little wait time.

The research was carried out at the Caltech laboratories of Mikhail Shapiro, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Max Delbrück Professor of Chemical and Medical Engineering, and Richard Andersen, the director and leadership chair of the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Centre and James G Boswell Professor of Neuroscience. 

The experiment cooperated with the laboratory of INSERM's director of medical physics, Mickael Tanter, in Paris, France.