The brain-computer interface should be used in the fields of clinical diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of neurological diseases.
Sometimes, some technologies that have been crouching in the lab for decades may have a leap overnight, appearing in front of the public, and this is probably the case with the Brain Machine Interface (BCI). As early as 1924, after the discovery of brainwaves by German psychiatrist Hans Berger, research on BCI technology began to appear (by the end of the 1960s, BCI technology really began to take shape); Now, now With the continuous improvement of neural signal acquisition and analysis technology, BCI began to appear in our “by side”.
BCI is getting more and more under the double blessing of policy and technological breakthroughs. Since 2013, the United States, the European Union, and Japan have successively launched “brain plans”; in addition, thanks to technology madman Musk and Facebook, the fire is also burning More prosperous. In addition to the continuous breakthrough in scientific research, the voice of the industry is also increasing. In recent years, China’s “brain plan” has also been advanced, and the corresponding technology research and development and clinical landing have achieved certain results, like Cloud Intelligence,Shenzhen Biotechnology ,Heart Technology,臻泰智能 has started BCI’s business exploration .
The recent contact with Bo Rui Kang is one of the members of BCI’s industrialization. The company originated from the neuroengineering laboratory of Tsinghua University, relying on innovative brain-computer interface technology, and bearing the national “twelfth five-year” technology support plan “brain-machine interface The faint information collection technology and product development “problem”, the core team gradually moved towards the productization process. Up to now, “Bo Rui Kang” has completed three rounds of financing, with a financing scale of over 100 million.
In the commercial exploration, Huang Xiaoshan, founder of Bo Ruikang, said that BCI has a good application prospect in the medical and health field, a large market space, and it is easier to industrialize, so the focus of research and development will also be placed in this field.
However, Huang Xiaoshan also said that in view of the long development cycle of “BCI+Medical” products and huge capital investment, The company chooses to realize commercial realization in scientific research field (or technical output) >. Specifically, “Bo Ruikang” independently developed a wireless EEG acquisition system to support other organizations in sports rehabilitation, driverless, virtual environment interaction, psychology Research and transformation of research and special population communication. According to him, in 2018, “Bo Rui Kang” has occupied more than 30% market share in the research field of brain-computer interface.
Wireless EEG Acquisition System
On the clinical stage, “Bui Rui Kang” has also achieved certain results. At present, the company has launched a digital EEG machine (a medical device for clinical detection of human brain bioelectricity), which can be applied to departments such as neurology, neurosurgery, and neonatology. On this basis, “Bo Rui Kang” also developed EEG and event-related potential systemsUnification- Further enhances audio-visual evoked detection and ERP analysis on the basis of “digital EEG machine”, and expands to application scenarios such as NICU and ICU. In addition, it can be used to assist nerves. The high-frequency digital EEG machine for surgical positioning is also about to come out.
EEG and event-related potential systems
The above are all clinical diagnoses for neurological diseases. What about treatment and rehabilitation? Huang Xiaoshan revealed that the company also has a corresponding product layout, including brain-computer interface for active rehabilitation training for patients with assisted limb dyskinesia Active rehabilitation system, as well as helping patients with refractory epilepsy (both drugs and surgery are not used)Minimally invasive implant feedback therapy system for controlling seizures, through seizures The pre-warning of the characteristic signal triggers electrical stimulation. However, at present they are still in the early stages of R&D, and there is still a long way to go from industrialization.
With the above products, it is not difficult to see that the product matrix of “Bui Rui Kang” is dominated by the non-invasive brain-computer interface. We know that non-invasive BCI is generally worn on the human brain in the form of a brain-electric cap. However, due to the attenuation of the signal on the skull and the dispersion and blurring effects of electromagnetic waves emitted by the neurons, the resolution of the acquired signals is often not high. It is difficult to determine the exact brain region of the signal or the discharge of the associated individual neuron.
Huang Xiaoshan explained that Invasive is indeed more accurate than the information captured by non-invasive, but the risk is also higher, involving the ethical challenges of clinical identification, and the difficulties of landing promotion caused by trauma. However, the good news is that the current ethical issues have been clarified, and the biocompatibility of implantable devices has been continually optimized and refined, and clinical trials can begin. As a result, the company initiated the development of a minimally invasive implanted feedback therapy system.
Huang Xiaoshan said ,The next step is to expand the application of brain-computer interface in the therapeutic field and accelerate the industrialization process; it will also enter the consumer electronics field in the future.
Attach: Team Information
The core team consists of high-tech talents in the neuroengineering laboratory of Tsinghua University and medical market experts in the field of clinical neurology. Chairman Xu Honglai is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at Tsinghua University. He has extensive experience in brain-computer interface system design and development, and weak signal detection and analysis;Founder & CEOHuang Xiaoshan is Dr. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Ph.D., Stanford University School of Medicine, the main research direction is brain-computer interface and related neural signal acquisition and processing methods; /span>Deputy General ManagerLiu Xiaoling is an agent of imported products in the clinical neurology field. She has extensive experience in the medical device industry.