Brain-computer interfaces, while exciting, have a lot of work to go before they live up to the hype present in movies like Avatar and Pacific Rim. In their present state (as of 2020), they're still rough around the edges and only useful for a few niche applications, such as:

• Detecting mental state (e.g. sleep, calm)

• Controlling low-dimensional movements (e.g. a drone or mouse cursor), but with relatively low precision

• Controlling a selection interface via event-related potentials (e.g. a keyboard to type), but at low speeds of a few characters per minute

Furthermore, they require significant training, concentration, and dedication from the user to work properly. Over the years, we were involved in myriad efforts to help improve these devices for the populations that need it most: people that, due to injury or disease, are unable to use traditional interface devices, e.g. people with quadraplegia or spinal cord injury, people with ALS or other neurodegenerative disease that impairs their motor control, etc.

Our projects have spanned a wide range, from:

• Improving usability for people with more variable EEG signals

• Building a multiple choice testing system for children with cerebral palsy

• Building a partially-autonomous context-aware 3D vision and robot arm interface for patients with quadriplegia to control

We also co-founded a company, Neurable, LLC, back in 2015 to attempt to bring these devices to broader commercial use.

We've since moved on to interfacing with biology at a more cellular level, but look forward to seeing where this field goes over the next decade!