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Paralyzed man walks after bluetooth connects his brain and spine

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coppercone2:
100k is peanuts for making someone walk, the amount of money that is lost for everyone by someone that is crippled is very high.

tom66:

--- Quote from: tszaboo on June 02, 2023, 12:06:04 pm ---
--- Quote from: tom66 on June 02, 2023, 10:03:09 am ---I'd take a guess that the prototypes are Bluetooth (because it's easy enough to work with for R&D) but a production device would almost certainly use a private RF band.  That said, there are already Bluetooth-enabled pacemakers, so who knows.

--- End quote ---
The RF SOCs I've used, they could be easily reprogrammed to use 802.15.4 or Zigbee or proprietary protocols.
Even if it isn't the FW and the communication for an RF link is the least complicated part of a project like this.

--- End quote ---

Well, either way I'd hope they'd use a dedicated band and not 2.4GHz ISM.
I often listen to podcasts while making breakfast and the Alexa-phone bluetooth link drops out almost always when using the microwave.
Imagine not being able to move because of RF interference - could be very serious.  I'd actually say two independent bands should be used to maximise the chance of transmission in crowded RF environments, or at least some kind of wide band frequency hopping.

Edit: in fact, thinking about this, it's the perfect application for something like UWB.  Very short range transmission, very wide bandwidth with frequency hopping.  Already used for things like intra-soldier wireless.

tszaboo:

--- Quote from: tom66 on June 03, 2023, 10:26:09 am ---
--- Quote from: tszaboo on June 02, 2023, 12:06:04 pm ---
--- Quote from: tom66 on June 02, 2023, 10:03:09 am ---I'd take a guess that the prototypes are Bluetooth (because it's easy enough to work with for R&D) but a production device would almost certainly use a private RF band.  That said, there are already Bluetooth-enabled pacemakers, so who knows.

--- End quote ---
The RF SOCs I've used, they could be easily reprogrammed to use 802.15.4 or Zigbee or proprietary protocols.
Even if it isn't the FW and the communication for an RF link is the least complicated part of a project like this.

--- End quote ---

Well, either way I'd hope they'd use a dedicated band and not 2.4GHz ISM.
I often listen to podcasts while making breakfast and the Alexa-phone bluetooth link drops out almost always when using the microwave.
Imagine not being able to move because of RF interference - could be very serious.  I'd actually say two independent bands should be used to maximise the chance of transmission in crowded RF environments, or at least some kind of wide band frequency hopping.

--- End quote ---
I'm not exactly sure why they need wireless in the first place. Though having wires sawn underneath your skin is kinda cyberpunk, but they would be connecting like 200mm with this link? Depending on where the injury is.

tom66:

--- Quote from: tszaboo on June 03, 2023, 10:29:30 am ---I'm not exactly sure why they need wireless in the first place. Though having wires sawn underneath your skin is kinda cyberpunk, but they would be connecting like 200mm with this link? Depending on where the injury is.

--- End quote ---

If the implant is in the brain and the spine, perhaps a cable directly through the body carries risk of transmitting an infection?  Blood-brain barrier is an important component of the immune system.

SiliconWizard:
For anyone willing to go past the video, the official press release is there: https://www.chuv.ch/fr/chuv-home/espace-pro/journalistes/communiques-de-presse/detail/brain-computer-interface-bci-enables-thought-controlled-walking-after-spinal-cord-injury

And the company's website: https://www.neurorestore.swiss/

The paper published in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06094-5

They indeed used Bluetooth, although I'm guessing this is not so much because of its particular relevance for the task at hand, but rather because it was easily available and they are still at the experimentation stage.

And yes, running cables from the brain all the way down to the middle of the back would be a nightmare.

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