Synchron Embeds Apple Vision Pro With Brain Interface

The brain implant firm Synchron backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, continues to reveal more advancements – this time with one of Apple’s newest wearable devices.

Synchron announced the first use of the Apple Vision Pro headset with its brain computer interface by US patient called Mark with ALS.

It comes after the firm had last month incorporated OpenAI’s advanced generative AI system with its brain-computer interface (BCI) technology in the same patient, to enable patients with severe paralysis who have lost upper limb mobility to interact with the digital world hands-free, through thought alone.

Apple Vision Pro

That ambition to offer patients with severe paralysis the ability to interact with the digital world hands-free continued this week with the announcement of the use of Apple’s futuristic headset with its BCI implant.

Synchron revealed that Mark, a 64-year old man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), successfully used his direct thoughts to control the cursor on the Apple Vision Pro when he played Solitaire, watched Apple TV and sent text messages using the Synchron brain computer interface, hands-free.

Mark is otherwise unable to use the Apple Vision Pro due to the loss of function of his upper limbs. It should be remembered that the Apple Vision Pro headset requires hand gestures to make item selections.

“This is pretty cool, I’ve been wanting to try this for a while now,” Mark said in reaction to using his BCI to watch a video on the Vision Pro. “It’s like watching it in the theatre, it really comes to life. Using this type of enhanced reality is so impactful and I can imagine it would be for others in my position or others who have lost the ability to engage in their day-to-day life. It can transport you to places you never thought you’d see or experience again.”

Synchron’s new BCI integration with Apple Vision Pro, allows for the first time – users who have lost mobility of their hands and voice to engage with the device.

“BCI is a platform to re-connect people with injury or disease back to the fast-moving consumer technology landscape,” said Tom Oxley, CEO & Founder, Synchron.

“Vision Pro is a powerful system, but it relies on the use of hand gestures to exert control over the UI. We are sending control signals directly from the brain to replace the need for hand gestures.”

“We are moving towards a new Bluetooth standard for Human Computer Interactions that don’t require touch or speech,” Oxley added. This is a critical unmet need for millions of people with paralysis.”

Big name backers

Synchron had received US regulatory clearance for human trials as far as back in 2021 and has previously completed studies in four people in Australia.

Then in September 2023 the Synchron BCI was implanted in first six patients in the United States.

Unlike Elon Musk’s Neuralink which directly implants a device onto a person’s brain (requiring open brain surgery), the Synchron BCI is a stent-like device that is instead implanted in the blood vessel on the surface of the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein, through a minimally-invasive endovascular procedure.

Once implanted, it is designed to detect and wirelessly transmit motor intent out of the brain, intended to restore the capability for severely paralysed people to control personal devices with hands-free point-and-click.

Synchron was founded in 2012,and is one of a number of companies such as Paradromics, Precision Neuroscience and Elon Musk’s Neuralink that have been working to build and commercialise BCI systems in recent years.

Neuralink for example benefits from Elon Musk for publicity purposes, but Synchron also has some big name backers.

In December 2022 it received a $75 million financing round that included funding from the investment firms of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.