For years, scientists have been working on neuro-controlling technology. Various studies and tests have been conducted to ascertain the long-term viability, merits and demerits of using these technologies. Among various concepts, the notable ones include prosthetic limbs that could be attached to bone, muscles and nerves of the patients, instead of conventional procedures where sockets are used to connect prosthetics to the body and surface electrodes to help control them. This could allow people who have lost their limbs to overcome the loss to lead a close to normal life without much hinderance. But so far, the ability to control objects using the power of thought has been limited, and it could soon change for good.
What is Neuro-Control?
It is a technologically facilitated process which allows a person to directly manipulate a device using a thought transmitted by brain waves/electrical signals. A neuro-control device is one that is configured to give a human the ability to control their environment directly through thought. Given the right ML algorithms, the thoughts can be interpreted into action.
The potential uses for neuro-controlled devices are vast. This could be a breakthrough in treatment, control, prevention and improvement of medicine, electronics, virtual reality, robotics, transportation, manufacturing, among other possible applications. Building on this vision, Neurogress, a company based in Geneva, Switzerland, already integrates its software and mechatronic control into thought-controlled prostheses and robots.
Enriching Neurogress’ vision.
Neurogress develops software for neuro-controlling electronics and machinery. Ultimately, Neurogress aims to create an entire ecosystem made out of a library of ML algorithms connected to neuro-controlled devices based on its software platform developed to bring the limitations of existing neural interfaces to a minimum. The company intends to do so by building a decentralized platform of neutro-control systems to make the control of electronics easier than ever.
These emerging devices will be informed by aspirations and design requirements drawn from diverse fields of human endeavor to help boost the acceptance of this technology in everyday aspects of life. Software and hardware developers are at the starting point, but the inputs from of designers, artists, technology enthusiasts and philanthropists will also play an important part in shaping the solutions that takes Neurogress one step closer to making its vision a reality.
The goal for Neurogress is to go beyond encouraging developers to bring innovative new neuro-controlled devices to the market. Neurogress will revolutionize how people interact with machines by developing the right technology to move the world away from reliance on cumbersome physical interfaces. The company is at the forefront of the realization of this vision to transform how people bring their creative and intellectual pursuit to fruition.
There is an abundance of neural interfaces in the market today. Currently available devices can read basic brain signals. However, these devices are not capable of achieving a high level of specificity in reading and responding to brain commands. They simply cannot be relied upon to achieve complex objectives. To solve this limitation, Neurogress is looking to introduce a solution that actively generates an evolving algorithm for interpreting individual’s brain signals and greatly increase the potential for sending detailed and precise commands to a device for an equally precise action.
The Role of Blockchain
Neurogress is in the process of building a technology that can train AI for neurocontrol and the use of decentralized infrastructure will prevent the cutting-edge tech with widespread applications from being monopolized by any single entity or corporation. At the same time, to achieve its goal, the company’s ecosystem revolves around the Neurogress SDK and big data of user neural activity. The big data collected will be stored for now on centralised servers until solutions like IPFS mature to fill the complex needs of Dapps. The individual input of each person training the specific purpose algorithms will be hashed into the Blockchain, minimising storage of data. Only quality data from the training pools will be validated, stored, and rewarded with NRG.
The use of advanced algorithms and large volumes of data will require high levels of data integrity and demanding resources, which is better managed by a combination of distributed storage along with a Blockchain infrastructure. The machine learning process with neural activity data from algorithm trainers constantly enhances the advanced algorithms, which accelerates the process of mastering neurocontrol. Decentralization allows software and hardware developers to make use of Neurogress algorithms to not only run their systems but also provide crowdsourced datasets for training the AI.
The consensus algorithm “Proof of Thought” refers to a distribution mechanism aimed at rewarding only the human input that passes quality checks. Along with it, the platform will have normal ASIC resistant “Proof of Work” that allows machines to race algos that validate the quality of the input data.
In addition, Blockchain has proven itself to be an ideal transaction processing mechanism, which would prove to be handy with the marketplace and for deep learning and machine learning algorithms alongside the Maker Zone marketplace within the Neurogress ecosystem.
The decentralized structure will ensure safe payments and a guarantee of a full user compliance with user agreements while being resistant to hacking attacks and imparting transaction tracking features. Neurogress is yet to decide which platform will be ideal for its long-term needs, be it Ethereum, IOTA, EOS, another emerging technology or a native Blockchain and cryptocurrency – this will be concluded when the project reaches its development stage. The first instance of deployment will be on the Ethereum Blockchain.
A Community-Driven Ecosystem
Creation of a neuro controlled smart environment is achieved through Neurogress Ecosystem which is aimed to deliver mutual benefits of neuro-control developments to all parties via the Neurogress platform. Neurogress decentralized ecosystem ensures that the device manufacturers, control users, software developers and algorithm trainers are supported by the Neurogress AI-based software and the Neurogress Blockchain-Neurotech-AI foundation and brought into a collaboration which allows to constantly improve the quality of brain signal pattern recognition.
This approach guarantees accurate, sophisticated neuro-control for the multitude of devices around us. For the devices requiring specialized control interfaces, neuro-controlled devices will require specialized protocols for every new form of control, which will be easy to achieve with all players under one ecosystem.
Token Generation Event
Approximately 58,500 ETH are required to launch the Neurogress project. The funds will largely be allocated for Software, marketplace and ecosystem development among other allocations. The total volume of company tokens is set at 100,000,000 NRG, where the company plans to reserve 50% of these tokens for project development with a condition of 40% lockout for 1 year after the Token Generation Event ends. The Pre-TGE is scheduled to be held in February to March 2018, while the TGE will be held in May through to June 2018. The tokens will go at a price of 0.0014318 ETH, where accepted currencies include ETH and BTC.
More information about Neurogress is available at – https://neurogress.io/