Each year, Apple has new accessibility functions, which will be implemented later in the year. This Tuesday, May 13, the company presented the first new products that will arrive with future versions of the operating systems of the iPhone, Mac or the iPad.
Among these is in particular the control of thought for “users with serious motor disabilities.” As Apple explains in its press release, a new protocol will be integrated into iOS 19, Ipados 19 and Visishes 3 to allow these people to control their devices with a brain computer interface.
In other words, it is a brain implant capable of translating electrical signals to control a device. This technology would cause Apple devices to be accessible to many people who cannot use their hands due to diseases such as Charcot’s disease or serious spinal cord lesions.
Technology in its beginnings
The brain computer interface will work through the selection control function, which allows you to control your iPhone or iPad using buttons. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple works with Synchron, a Neuralink competitor to develop this interface.
The company has designed a stent -shaped device that is established in a vein at the top of the brain motor cortex. Called Stentrode, it has electrodes capable of reading and translating brain signals.
This implant has already been tested, especially by Mark Jackson, who suffers from Charcot’s disease. Thanks to this device connected to a professional vision, he was able to look at the cornice of a mountain in the Swiss Alps when he cannot leave his home. He also learns to control his iPhone, his iPad and the mixed reality headphones with the implant.
Mark Jackson said synchronization technology was still in his childhood. For example, you cannot use it to imitate the movement of a cursor with a mouse or the displacement of a touch screen with your fingers. Therefore, navigation is much slower than a normal interaction with a smartphone or a computer.
Source: BFM TV
