FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York.
Credit: Apple
Cupertino-based Apple has been a strong advocate of accessibility features to enable differently-abled people to make good use of their devices to lead an independent life.
Now, Wall Street Journal citing company insiders has reported that Apple s working with New York-based Synchron to work on a brain-computer interface (BCI) technology standard.
Synchron is said to be backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
BCI is a promising technology which has huge potential to bring relief to people with motor disabilities such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or spinal injuries, paralysis and limb amputation due to accidents.
Lately, BCI has gained prominence worldwide, thanks to Elon Musk's Neuralink. The latter has achieved several milestones with tests on monkeys and humans.
Synchron too has its own devices which can perform similar functions with Stentrode standard.
Synchron device.
Credit: Synchron/YouTube
Neuralink requires an invasive procedure to directly place the chipset on the surface of the brain tissue.
On the other hand, Synchron has a tiny device, which can be placed on a vein above the brain's mortar cortex via minimal invasive operation. It is said to be similar to placing a stent in the heart, hence called stentrode standard. Once installed, it is capable of interpreting brain signals for motor movements and relay it to the smart gadgets to perform a task.
So far, Synchron is said to have tested its BCI device on 10 people since 2019.
Like Musk's Neuralink, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deems Synchron's gadget as a breakthrough device.
Synchron has worked with NVIDIA and Apple for Vision Pro device. In the official website, the company said it has tested its device paired with Vision Pro on a patient with a motor disability to operate things at home with just eye tracking. He was able to read message notifications, turn on HomePods, and operate a dog feeder, smart vacuum cleaner and more.
Now, Apple with Synchron plans to develop a new BCI technology standard, which can be implemented to control iPhone, iPads and Mac devices.
However, the Synchron device needs further testing before it can be commercially made available to the public.
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