In Depth: Testing Mind-Controlled Computers in China’s Skies

By Xu Luyi and Kelly Wang

As most passengers dozed on their two-hour flight from Beijing to Wuhai, a groundbreaking brain-computer interface (BCI) experiment quietly unfolded.

Bai Hao, who has been paralyzed from the shoulders down following a car accident five years ago, became the first patient in China to test a BCI device at high altitude as he flew home to the Inner Mongolia city on Aug. 2.

First proposed by American computer scientist Jacques Vidal in the 1970s, BCI technology gathers the electric signals generated by the brain and translates them into commands a machine can follow, which for example could allow someone to control a robotic arm using their mind. In recent years, Chinese scientists have made strides in developing the technology, including the country’s first clinical trial in which electrodes were implanted in a paralyzed patient in 2020.

Bai received his BCI device in December 2023. Using the Neural Electronic Opportunity (NEO) device, developed by a research team from the Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Bai has been able to control robotic arms and wheelchairs.

Compared to the devices developed by Elon Musk’s Neuralink — which penetrates through the outer layer of the membrane that protects the brain, and attaches electrodes to the cerebral cortex — NEO applies a less invasive approach that implants electrodes in the skull, keeping the neural tissues intact.

BCI technology remains a relatively new research area. Less than 40 patients with spinal cord injuries have received implantable BCI devices worldwide.

For the technology to benefit more people — such as the tens of thousands of people who suffer spinal cord injuries each year in China each year due to traffic accidents and other kinds of trauma — it’s essential for the technology to be usable without supervision, Tsinghua University Professor Hong Bo, who led the team’s research, emphasized.

“It’s meaningless if our experiment participants can never leave us,” Hong told Caixin in a recent interview. Hence the aerial experiment, conducted amid turbulence and electromagnetic interference, aimed to validate the system’s reliability even under extreme conditions.

Experiment in the air

Bai’s mission was to complete two separate tasks in the 40 minutes at which the plane was cruising at around 9,000 meters. Here is how it went.

The two tasks designed for the experiment — controlling a cursor in a tic-tac-toe game and navigating a virtual wheelchair through a maze — involve the use of trained motor imagery. For example, if Bai imagined lifting his right elbow, the cursor in the tic-tac-toe task would move up and the wheelchair in the maze would turn right.

The tasks replicated two everyday activities Bai would encounter as a BCI user — operating a computer and moving his wheelchair. Accompanying him on the flight were Liang Shuoyan, a neuroengineering student on Hong’s team, and an engineer surnamed Gong from Neuracle Technology Co. Ltd., which partnered with Tsinghua Medicine on developing NEO.

After the cabin lights came on and the seatbelt sign went off, Liang strapped a bag to Bai’s arm. The bag, which contained a brain signal processor, connected to a coin-sized receiver that was magnetically attached to Bai’s scalp. Soon, eight waveforms — displaying the signals sent from Bai’s brain — appeared on the NEO software interface.

Besides the interference of some slight anxiety on Bai’s part and a bout of turbulence, the tic-tac-toe game between Bai and Liang went smoothly. Over the course of 10 minutes, Bai won the first round and the following five were all draws.

For the virtual wheelchair mission, Bai needed to circle around the entire neighborhood, making turns and avoiding walls. Bai had been practicing controlling virtual wheelchairs and previously attempted to navigate a real one in the corridors of Tsinghua University’s medical science building.

This time, Bai took another 10 minutes to travel around the virtual neighborhood and successfully returned to the starting point. “Very fast, very smooth,” Gong noted.

Bai didn’t speak much during the missions but teased the system after completing the tasks by clenching his teeth — creating fluctuations on the brainwave interface — an act he often does to release stress.

After the two tasks were done, there were still 10 more minutes before the plane would start its descent. The team decided to add a side task for Bai, playing a cursor-controlled surfing game. Bai’s first attempt failed when the virtual surfer crashed into an obstacle. He gave it a few more tries until the air crew announced to prepare for landing.

At 11:40 p.m., the plane landed in Wuhai in the southwestern part of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Bai returned home after being away for more than eight months.

Recovery at home

Bai woke up early the following morning, ready for his routine rehabilitation training.

The aerial test was only the first step. Another goal for Hong’s team was to find areas that require improvement when patients autonomously use the device at home.

As Liang set up the equipment at Bai’s home, Gong had returned to their hotel and started regular task tests via remote connection. Bai’s father helped Bai put on the device, fitted a pneumatic hand, and put a stylus into his mouth — for typing on screen.

After inputting his account name and password, Bai released the stylus from his mouth, waiting for the task to start.

“Once ready, press the space bar to start,” the interface announced, but Bai couldn’t press the space bar. The stylus had dropped onto his lap.

Next to Bai, Liang shook his head. “Using the stylus with patient’s mouth to touch the screen isn’t going to work. We need to have the brain control everything right from the beginning,” he said.

Improvements are also needed for the NEO-Box, where all the device’s cables are supposed to be hidden. “[Professor Hong] hopes that after using the system, it can be set aside like any other household appliance,” Liang explained.

However, the box that the team took to Wuhai, created through 3D printing, couldn’t close properly, with the size of top cover being a few millimeters off. A newer version that arrived the next day still needed more refining as Liang feared the material may deform over time.

“Overall, the user experience isn’t quite there yet,” Liang said.

Besides improvements to the equipment, the team also needed to deal with moments of frustration when they realize the road to recovery might be longer than they expected. “Many of Bai’s fellow patients expect a brain-machine interface that, once implanted with a chip, will allow them to stand up from their wheelchair the next day. We carry a lot of expectations,” Liang told Caixin.

At the same time, every small breakthrough could alleviate the burden for the families, he added. “I remember Mr. Yang [another patient who received the same implant as Bai] once said that even something as simple as scratching one’s face or drinking water can bring them great happiness.”

On the night before the research team left for Beijing, Bai’s family expressed their gratitude. The normally reticent Gong gently reassured Bai’s mother and told them that they were doing great.

“We won’t give up,” Bai’s mother said as her eyes reddened. “I believe that together we will surely get better.”

Bai Hao is a pseudonym.

caixinglobal.com is the English-language online news portal of Chinese financial and business news media group Caixin. Global Neighbours is authorized to reprint this article.

Image: Longo – stock.adobe.com