INDUSTRY HISTORY
Through the years.
Brain Computer Interfaces have been in the works for decades. See how far the industry has come.
1875
Richard Caton successfully records the electrical activity of the living brains of rabbits
1969
Eberhard E Fetz shows that, given feedback, monkeys could learn to consciously control the firing rate of their own cortical neurons
1970
DARPA initiates a program to explore brain communications using EEG.
1973
Professor Jacques Vidal of the University of California at Los Angeles coins the term ‘brain-computer interface’ and sets out the aims of the Brain-Computer Interface project to analyze EEG signals.
1973
Penn et al report the first EEG brain recordings from inside a blood vessel in the brain.
1976
UCLA’s Brain-Computer Interface Laboratory provides evidence that single-trial visual evoked potentials could be used as a communication channel effective enough to control a cursor through a two-dimensional maze.
1988
Phillip Kennedy builds the first intra-cortical brain-computer interface by implanting neurotrophic-cone electrodes into monkeys.
1997
The US Food and Drug Administration approves Deep Brain Stimulation for the treatment of essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.
1999
Miguel et al demonstrate the first animal implanted with penetrating electrode in the brain to control a robotic lever.
2006
Leigh Hochberg et al report on the first patient implanted with a penetrating electrode to control a robotic limb.
2007
Miller et al reports on the frequency-dependent spectral fluctuations detectable using a surface ECoG electrode array during attempted muscle movements.
2014
Khodagholy et al demonstrates that spikes can be detected with a surface ECoG array without the need for penetrating electrodes.
2015
Multiple papers in NEJM report the overwhelming efficacy of a stent-retriever to treat stroke, causing massive growth of neurointervention as a sub-discipline of medicine.
2016
Synchron demonstrates the first chronic brain recording of vascular ECoG from inside a blood vessel in sheep using a ‘stentrode™'.
2016
Vansteensel and team publish results of first subdural ECoG BCI in a patient with paralysis through open brain surgery, a fully implanted and wireless system that enabled the patient to control a speller to communicate.
2018
The US Food and Drug Administration approves Deep Brain Stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy.
2018
Synchron demonstrates that localized brain stimulation can be achieved from inside a blood vessel without the need for open brain surgery.
2019
Eddie Chang and researchers from UCSF demonstrate that high performance BCI can be achieved using surface ECoG arrays, implanted with open brain surgery
2021
Synchron report on the first two human patients implanted with a stentrode™ in a clinical to assess control of external devices that improve functional independence, including text messaging, emailing and online banking.
2021
Synchron becomes the first company to receive an IDE from the FDA to conduct a clinical trial of a permanently implanted BCI