In a spacious conference room, Chen Yiqing smiled and talked with the members of the project team.

"The test on one hand was very successful. The brain-computer interface can collect his action intentions, convert them into specific neural patterns, and guide the prosthetic limb to make various actions."

"At the same time, our algorithm is constantly learning his ideas and optimizing."

"The more he trains on the brain-computer interface, the stronger his prosthetic limbs will be and the more precise his movements will be, just like more practice can make you better at table tennis."

"But -" he changed his tone and sighed.

"This may be the limit of what we can do with paraplegics."

Wang Dali said in surprise: "Is this the limit? I feel like I haven't reached my limit yet?"

He gushed: "We have just made a bionic arm now, which is just a very simple one-handed mode. We can continue to make two bionic arms, so that patients can use two hands like normal people."

"Of course, I think if two hands are placed in a wheelchair, it may not be flexible enough. It should be made into an exoskeleton chest armor so that the patient can work with both hands with just a thought. In this case, it will be like a real arm.

There’s no difference.”

"In addition, I think it would be good to make a full-body exoskeleton mecha. As long as a paralyzed patient is stuffed into it, he can control the mecha to walk, work, and even hug his relatives."

Chen Yiqing laughed and said: "Dali, your ideals are very full, but the reality is very skinny."

"Our current brain-computer interface is based on visual behavioral feedback, which means that patients can only receive information input by looking."

“If you can’t see it, you don’t know the feedback, you don’t know what the results of the action will be, and you don’t know how to take the next step.”

"For example, if you are asked to pick up a glass of water on the table, an ordinary person can touch around on the table and finally touch the glass even if he closes his eyes."

"Because every fingertip of yours, every inch of skin on your hands, and the smooth desktop can also touch the obstacles on it, then feel out its shape, feed all the information back to the computer, and finally draw a conclusion, oh

, I touched a cup on the table."

"Not only that, you can also feel the shape and material of the cup, as well as its weight."

"As long as you touch it lightly, you will know whether the cup is solid porcelain, an easily deformed paper cup, or even a stainless steel cup that can be dropped casually. You can also feel the temperature coming from the wall of the cup, whether it is warm water, hot water, etc.

Or ice water.”

"When all this information is put together and you already know all the relevant information about the cup, you will take different actions according to different situations. If it is a paper cup, you will be careful and not use too much force. If it is hot water, you will try to use

You don’t hold the handle directly, but if it’s cold water, you just pick up the cup.”

“The moment you pick up the cup with your eyes closed, your hands feed back countless information to you, and your brain is like a supercomputer, giving you the best plan to hold the cup based on all the information it receives.

"

"But all this is based on feedback of information."

"Without this feedback, your brain is like a blind man, unable to make any effective decisions."

"Think about it if your hands lost the sense of touch and could only provide visual feedback."

"You look at the cup and know that it is a paper cup filled with water, then you will definitely be cautious. You will first try the smallest force to see if the paper cup will deform. If the paper cup will deform with the smallest force, you may

Would give up picking it up."

"If there is no problem with the strength, ok, just use this strength to lift it up. At the same time, your eyes are fixed on the cup, and you don't dare to be careless at all, for fear that if it is unstable, the water in the cup will overflow."

"During the whole process, you have to keep your eyes on the cup. Your brain cannot be distracted. You can only focus on this one thing."

"Once you shift your gaze and lose sight of the cup, you lose control of holding the cup."

"Maybe the next second your strength will become stronger, the cup will be deformed, and the water will spill out."

"Or the next second your hand touches something else and your hand is fine, but the cup falls."

"This is the result of no information feedback. You cannot react quickly, adjust in real time, and control this matter."

Wang Dali asked unconvincedly: "Then if we add a pressure sensor to the bionic arm, what about other sensors?"

Chen Yiqing smiled slightly: "This is a very good question."

"However, it is a pity that our brain-computer interface can currently only output information, but cannot input information."

"Don't worry, listen to me slowly. This has something to do with the brain-computer interface. Currently, only invasive brain-computer interfaces can input information into the brain."

"Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, including the one we use, can only output information."

"The main reason is that the brain is too complex. It controls movement and perceives movement in different places."

"The brain controls movement through the motor cortex, but there are several cortexes that perceive movement."

"Visual feedback belongs to the function of the motor cortex, while tactile feedback belongs to the function of the sensory cortex."

"Not only that, but if it involves the coordination of hands, things get even more complicated."

"Because the brain has a specialized control cortex for one side of the body, the right cerebral sensory cortex mainly controls the left side of the body, and the left sensory cortex controls the right side of the body."

"While we can decode or control a limb to make simple movements from either side of the brain, for complex tasks that require coordinated movement of both hands simultaneously, such as cutting food, both sides of the brain are used."

"In this case, it becomes more difficult to input information into the brain."

"Only by putting the corresponding brain sensing cortex into the electrode sensor can the feedback from the prosthetic limb be converted into electrical pulses and sent to the brain's neural tissue, allowing the brain to know how the cup feels when touched."

"This is just tactile feedback."

"Think about it, if you want to input olfactory, auditory, visual, and other information into the brain, how many operations will be performed on the brain? How many microelectrodes will be implanted?"

"Do you think our patients can accept such a change? Do you think the hospital can agree?"

As soon as these words came out, Wang Dali fell silent.

After a while, he smiled bitterly and said: "It's better to modify the monkey's brain and create a 3D virtual monkey mountain for the monkey."

"I finally understand why things like Planet of the Apes happen to gorillas."

Chen Yiqing waved his hand and said: "The human brain is like a big lump of milk jelly. It is easy to implant microelectrodes, but it is also easy to be injured. If you put a bunch of things in, brain tissue damage and infection are inevitable. No one can do this.

There is no way to take responsibility.”

"So, until there is no breakthrough in material technology, there is no hope for virtual reality."

"However, you don't have to be discouraged." A sly smile appeared on Chen Yiqing's face.

"Although we can't directly output crazy information to the brain, we can input information to the brain indirectly."

"Oh, Director Chen, can you explain this clearly at once?" Wang Dali couldn't help complaining.

"Where does your problem of half-talking come from? This style is not popular in our company."

The smile on Chen Yiqing's face froze, and he almost lost control of his expression.

He usually gives too many lectures to his employees and children, and has long been accustomed to this kind of persuasive and slow-talking way of speaking. He never expected that he would be somewhat incompatible with Wang Dali, who likes to be straightforward.

He coughed twice quickly and said bluntly.

"Dali, in fact, the largest user group of bionic arms is the disabled. These patients have no problem with other parts of their body and their nervous system. They just lack arms and legs."

"You are right, we can add a large number of pressure sensors to the prosthesis to convey tactile feedback to the patient's nervous system, thereby inputting information to the brain."

"In this way, the neurofeedback pathway from the brain to the prosthetic limb can be reconstructed, and the prosthetic limb can be perfectly controlled through neural electrical impulses to achieve a fake and real effect."

Wang Dali suddenly became excited: "Great, this is a project that will allow me to show my talents."

Wen Renlong couldn't help but interjected: "So the brain-computer interface project is not going to be done? Just give up right away?"

"Old Chen, I never expected that you would also give up when encountering difficulties. It's really disappointing."

If someone else had said such words, Chen Yiqing would have twitched the corner of his mouth early in the morning. Although he wouldn't hit the table and curse, he would still have to retaliate.

But when Wen Renlong said this, he had long been accustomed to it, and his tone did not change at all, as if he had not heard it, and he explained with a smile.

"Aaron, it's not that we're not doing anything anymore, it's that we're shifting our strategy."

"As you can see, non-invasive brain-computer interfaces can only go so far."

"Our brain-computer project has achieved very good results, and the product is also very successful. We just encountered insurmountable difficulties, so we have to do some side tasks first."

"When conditions are ripe, we will continue."

"This is scientific research. You never expect what difficulties and problems you will encounter. Only when you actually encounter them can you respond."

"But don't worry, I will not give up on these paralyzed patients. I will continue research in the neurological field and strive to find more effective ways to treat their diseases as soon as possible."

"At least for now, the patients' lives have greatly improved. They can do rehabilitation training and continue to improve their physical condition."

Wen Renlong nodded and said no more.

Wang Dali asked curiously: "Chen Bo, why don't we make an exoskeleton robot for rehabilitation?"

Chen Yiqing shook his head and answered simply: "I'm not interested. If you are interested, you can do it yourself."

"This..." Wang Dali choked immediately.

He suddenly remembered that the directors of Sanqing only worked on projects based on their interest, except for projects assigned by the boss himself.

If you are interested, do it, if you are not interested, don't do it. It doesn't matter whether it makes money or how much money it can make, it has nothing to do with them.

The main character is a free and uninhibited person who relies on a strong inner drive to pursue his dreams.

Of course, you still have to care about cost and efficiency. This is your own responsibility and is also part of the success of the project.

But the big bosses of Sanqing all have tempers and their own little persistence.
To be continued...