Elon Musk’s brain technology company Neuralink wrote in a blog post that there was a mechanical problem with the device it implanted in its first human patient.
In the weeks following patient Noland Arbaugh’s January surgery, some of the threads embedded with electrodes embedded in brain tissue began to shrink in that tissue, causing the device to stop working properly, the company said.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported news of the malfunction.
Neuralink compensated for this withdrawal with a series of software fixes, which it said “have resulted in rapid and sustained improvements that now supersede Noland’s initial performance.”
The company says it’s currently working to improve the device’s text input and cursor control, and ultimately aims to expand its use to physical world devices like robotic arms and wheelchairs.
People working in the field of brain transplants said complications could arise because the threads are connected to the device inside the skull rather than on the surface of brain tissue. “One of the things that engineers and scientists don’t realize is how much the brain moves within the intracranial space,” said Eric Leuthardt, a neurosurgeon at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Just nodding your head or making a sudden movement can cause a disturbance of a few millimeters.”
Traditionally, surgeons placed brain implants just above the brain tissue itself, making them move “like a boat on the water,” said Matt Angle, CEO of Paradromics Inc., a competing brain implant company. “It’s not normal for a brain transplant,” he said.
Neuralink tested the device extensively on animals before implanting it in Arbaugh, a quadriplegic patient. But one potential problem is that because animals’ brains are smaller, the electrodes don’t move as much as they do in humans, Leuthardt said.
The report comes as Neuralink seeks to implant the device in more human subjects. Malfunctions may delay the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process.
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