Ma Jie from Aoyi Information: The crossroads of brain-computer interface industrialization

Recently, at the second Nandujiang Forum, Ma Jie, deputy director of the Medical Affairs Department of Shanghai Aoyi Information Technology Co., Ltd., shared her in-depth insights into the industrialization process of brain-computer interfaces, especially invasive and non-invasive brain-computer interfaces. Challenges and opportunities in rehabilitation medicine.

Ma Jie said that with the aging of the global population, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases and brain injuries is increasing year by year. These diseases often lead to impairment of patients' motor, sensory, speech and cognitive functions, seriously affecting their ability to live in daily life. Although existing clinical treatments and interventions have achieved certain results, there are still many patients with residual functional impairment. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop new and effective intervention strategies.

As a bridge between the brain and external devices, brain-computer interface brings new possibilities for neurological rehabilitation. Invasive brain-computer interfaces can accurately identify EEG signals, but due to the need for implantation surgery, there are risks of intracranial bleeding and infection, so their large-scale clinical application is still controversial. Although non-invasive brain-computer interface avoids the risk of surgery, its decoding accuracy and reliability are relatively low, and it is currently mainly suitable for patients with mild neurological rehabilitation.

Ma Jie emphasized that to break through the application bottleneck of non-invasive brain-computer interface, it is necessary to return to the clinical needs themselves. He believes that the current urgent need to solve in the field of neurological rehabilitation is the problem of muscle weakness and weakened movement. Stroke of different severity damages different structures, so the key to functional recovery lies in the remodeling of neural pathways.

In the neural circuit, there are complex connections between the central nervous system and muscles. When a brain injury occurs, the information transmission path of the neural circuit will change, which will affect the collection of brain electrical signals. Ma Jie pointed out that through the brain-myoelectric coupling method, the oscillation frequency of cortical activity and muscle activity can be analyzed, and then the coupling relationship between the brain and surrounding muscles can be reconstructed. This method is expected to enhance myoelectric signals and control the exoskeleton through myoelectric signals, thereby restoring the patient's motor function.

In order to break through the dilemma of non-invasive brain-computer interface in the application of brain-injured patients, intention recognition and movement assistance methods based on brain-myoelectricity joint decoding can be used. The core of this method is to rebuild the coupling between the brain and surrounding muscles by training the brain-myoelectricity relationship of stroke patients, enhance the myoelectric signal, and then control the exoskeleton through the myoelectric signal to restore motor functions. This idea is different from the conventional rehabilitation system that aims at restoring movements, but aims at restoring myoelectric signals.

Based on this idea, Ma Jie's team has developed three systems: NeuCir-Max is mainly used to improve patients' own electromyographic signals and control capabilities; NeuCir-Pro lays the foundation for controlling lightweight exoskeletons to complete daily life tasks; and NeuCir-Lite is an upper limb assistive wearable exoskeleton that effectively solves daily life needs.

Brain-computer interface has great potential in rehabilitation medicine. With the continuous advancement of technology and increasingly clear clinical needs, we have reason to believe that this field will usher in more innovations and breakthroughs.

OYMotion Technologies was founded in March 2015. It has successively received investment from Zhangjiang Torch, Xiamen Nut Brothers, Xiamen Qicheng Capital, GF Xinde, and Guangzhou Guofa. The core team has served Qualcomm, Intel, GE, Amlogic, Medtronic, Sinopharm and other internationally renowned companies. Aoyi Technology mainly develops cutting-edge technologies and products such as biosignal sensors, biosignal artificial intelligence pattern recognition, intelligent assistive devices, and intelligent bionic prosthetics. Aoyi Technology's mission is to empower the industry and provide customers with cost-effective rehabilitation medical technology solutions.