Brain Machine Interface: A Review of Current
Technologies and Future Directions
Sachin Santosh Sharma
Research Scholar, MCA
Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career
Development & Research (TIMSCDR)
Mumbai, India
sachintech4@gmail.com
Abstract— Brain Machine Interface (BMI) is a
rapidly growing field that aims to establish direct
communication between the brain and an external
device. This technology has the potential to restore
lost motor and sensory functions in people with
neurological disorders or injuries. An interface that
converts brain activity into instructions for
computers or other devices is known as a brain-
computer interface (BCI).In other words, a BCI
allows users to act on their environment by using only
brain activity, without using peripheral nerves and
muscles. The development of devices that enable
impaired people to communicate with others, operate
prosthetic limbs, or regulate their surroundings is the
main objective of BCI research. Multimedia
communication is a different application area for
brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Many facets of BCI
systems are currently being researched in order to
build systems for applications in the fields of assistive
technology or multimedia communication. Research
areas include evaluation of invasive and non-invasive
technologies to measure brain activity, evaluation of
control signals (i.e., patterns of brain activity that can
be utilised for communication), creation of algorithms
for converting brain signals into instructions for
computers, and creation of new BCI applications. The
main goal of this paper is to review the current state
of the art in BMI technologies, and to discuss their
potential applications and future directions.
Keywords—Brain Machine Interface, BMI,
invasive, non-invasive.
I. INTRODUCTION
Few people could have imagined that efforts to
create direct functional interfaces between brains
and artificial objects, such computers and robotic
limbs, would have been so successful, and that in
the process, a new field at the cutting edge of
systems neuroscience would have been established.
Basic research on brain-machine interfaces (BMIs),
which was once a very interdisciplinary topic, has
Rahul Neeraj Singh
Research Scholar, MCA
Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career
Development & Research (TIMSCDR)
Mumbai, India
rs2314rahul@gmail.com
advanced at an astounding rate since the initial
experimental demonstration in 1999 that ensembles
of cortical neurons could directly control a robotic
manipulator. Since then, a steady stream of
research papers has stoked both the scientific
community's and the general public's intense
interest in BMIs. This method has a great deal of
potential for restoring motor behaviours in patients
with severe disabilities, which is what has sparked
people's interest in it. In fact, BMIs have primarily
been thought of as a potential new therapy to regain
motor control in severely injured individuals,
particularly those dealing with life-threatening
illnesses including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS), spinal cord damage, stroke, and cerebral
palsy.
Invasive and non-invasive procedures are the
two main categories for BMIs. While non-invasive
techniques employ external devices to record brain
activity, invasive techniques entail the direct
insertion of electrodes into the brain. Invasive
methods have the advantage of high resolution and
long-term stability, but they carry the risk of
infection and other complications. Non-invasive
methods are less risky, but they typically have
lower resolution and shorter recording times. BMIs
could be useful for amputees as this technology
develops and the dangers of intrusive brain
recordings go down. BMIs for restoring speech and
locomotion are likely to develop in addition to the
systems driving upper-limb prostheses.
II. BMI TOOLS
Three major factors seem to stand out from the
present research when weighing the benefits and
drawbacks of various recording instrument types:
1. Scale – the number of neurons that can be
recorded at once
 2. Resolution – the level of detail in the data
the tool receives; it might be either spatial
or temporal.
3. Invasiveness – Will surgery be necessary,
and if so, how much?
A. fMRI
Scale: high
Resolution: medium-low spatial, very low temporal
Invasiveness: non-invasive
Although fMRI is a well-known recording
method, it is not commonly employed for BMIs. It
informs you of the internal processes taking on in
the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is
used in functional MRI. The x-ray-based CAT scan Fig. 1. fMRI
was developed into the MRI in the 1970s. MRIs
produce images of the body and brain using
magnetic fields in place of x-rays, together with B. EEG
radio waves and other signals.[6] A related piece of
equipment is used in fMRI ("functional" or Scale: high
"functional" MRI) ("functional" MRI), abbreviated Resolution: very low spatial, medium-high
fMRI ("functional" MRI) Where activity is temporal
occurring can be inferred indirectly from blood Invasiveness: non-invasive
flow. Results from fMRI are also three-dimensional Electroencephalography, or EEG, has been used
since it can scan the entire brain. fMRI has a for almost a century and involves placing a number
variety of medical applications, such as helping of electrodes on your head. It's one of the few
doctors determine whether specific brain regions completely non-invasive BMI measurement
are recovering well from a stroke. It has also taught techniques available. EEGs record electrical
neuroscientists a great deal about which sections of activity in different regions of the brain, displaying
the brain are responsible for which processes. the findings like this: [7]
Additionally, scans have the advantage of revealing
information about what the entire brain is
experiencing at any one moment while being
completely non-invasive and safe. The big
drawback is resolution. fMRI scans have a literal
resolution, like a computer screen has with pixels,
except the pixels are three-dimensional, cubic
volume pixels—or “voxels”. As technology has
advanced, fMRI voxels have shrunk, increasing Fig. 2. EEG
spatial resolution. The fMRI voxels of today can be The status of a dose of anaesthetic, for example,
as tiny as one cubic millimetre. The brain is divided can be ascertained using EEG graphs, which can
into nearly one million tiny cubes by a high- also reveal information about conditions like
resolution fMRI scan since its volume is epilepsy and sleep patterns. Additionally, unlike
approximately 1,200,000 mm3. The problem is that fMRI, EEG offers decent temporal resolution,
on the neuron scale, that’s still pretty huge; each capturing electrical impulses from the brain as they
voxel contains tens of thousands of neurons. The occur, but the skull greatly distorts temporal
average blood flow drawn in by each group of precision (bone is a bad conductor).Spatial
40,000 or so neurons is thus the best the fMRI can resolution is a severe flaw. EEG lacks any. Only a
show you. The even bigger problem is temporal wide average—a vector sum of the charges from
resolution. fMRI tracks blood flow, which is both millions or billions of neurons—is recorded by
imprecise and comes with a delay of about a each electrode (and a blurred one because of the
second—an eternity in the world of neurons. skull).

C. ECoG
Scale: high
Resolution: low spatial, high temporal
Invasiveness: kind of invasive
Similar to EEG, electrocorticography (ECoG)
also uses surface electrodes but places them on the
surface of the brain, under the skull. ECoG detects
higher spatial (1 cm) and temporal resolution when
the skull's interference is absent (5 milliseconds).
ECoG electrodes can either be placed above or
below the dura: [8][9]
Fig. 3. ECoG
D. Local Field Potential (Microelectrodes)
Scale: low
Resolution: medium-low spatial, high temporal
Invasiveness: very invasive
Local field potential (LFP) is a measure of the
electrical activity of the brain that is recorded from
electrodes placed near or within the brain. It
reflects the summed activity of many neurons in a
specific area of the brain, rather than the activity of
individual neurons. LFPs are typically measured
using electrodes that are inserted into the brain
(invasive electrodes) or placed on the surface of the
skull (non-invasive electrodes). The LFP reflects a
variety of neural processes, including synaptic
activity, action potentials, and neural oscillations.
LFPs are typically in the range of millivolts (mV)
and can be recorded using different techniques such
as electroencephalography (EEG) or intracranial
recordings. LFPs have been used in a variety of
research areas, such as studying neural oscillations,
neural coding, and the neural basis of behaviour
and cognition. LFPs can also be used in clinical
settings, such as to monitor the brain activity of
patients with epilepsy or Parkinson's disease. LFPs
are a complex signal, with different frequency
bands that reflect different neural processes. Low-
frequency LFPs (around 1–50 Hz) reflect synaptic
activity and neural oscillations, while high-
frequency LFPs (above 50 Hz) reflect the firing of
individual neurons. In summary, LFP is a measure
of the electrical activity of the brain that reflects the
summed activity of many neurons in a specific area
of the brain, rather than the activity of individual
neurons. It can be recorded using different
techniques and provides insight into different
neural processes, such as synaptic activity, action
potentials, and neural oscillations. A more recent
development is the multielectrode array, which is
the same idea as the LFP except it’s about 100
LFPs all at once, in a single area of the cortex. A
multielectrode array looks like: [10]
Fig. 4. Microelectrodes
E. Single-Unit Recording
The needle electrode is still used for single-unit
recording, but the resistance is increased and the tip
is made extremely sharp. This eliminates the
majority of the noise, leaving the electrode picking
up essentially nothing, until it comes within about
50 meters of a neuron, at which point the signal
from that neuron is potent enough to pass through
the electrode's thick wall of high resistance. This
electrode may now eavesdrop on the private lives
of a single neuron if it receives separate signals
from that neuron and there is no background noise.
greatest resolution at the smallest scale.
III. EARLY BMI
A. Using the motor cortex as a remote control
The motor cortex is the least perplexing of
the brain's regions, despite the fact that all of them
are perplexing. The body is well mapped, which
means that specific portions of it control particular
body portions. Furthermore, it is one of the main
brain regions in charge of our output. Almost
always, the motor cortex is the one controlling a
human's actions (at least for the physical part of the
doing). Therefore, since the brain already employs
the motor cortex as its remote control, the human
brain doesn't really need to learn how to do so. The
purpose of motor cortex-based BMIs is to tap into
the motor cortex, receive a command fired by the
remote control, and then deliver that command to a
machine that can react to it like, say, your hand
would. The link between your motor cortex and
your hand is a group of nerves. BMIs serve as a
link between a computer and your motor brain. One
basic form of interface enables a person to control a
cursor on a screen using only their thoughts, which
is frequently the case for those who are paralyzed
from the neck down or have had limbs amputated.
Through the work of motor-cortex-BMI pioneer
company BrainGate, a guy plays a video game
using only his mind [11]. A quadriplegic woman
flew an F-35 fighter jet in a simulation, and a
monkey recently used his mind to ride around in a to a cochlear implant's hearing function for seeing
wheelchair.[12] [13] Nicolelis created an (though less directly). It performs the functions of
experiment where the motor cortex of one rat in the eye normally and transmits information to
Brazil was wired, via the internet, to the motor nerves as electrical impulses, just like the eye does.
cortex of another rat in the US. [14] A more complicated interface than the cochlear
implant, the first retinal implant was approved by
B. Artificial ears and eyes the FDA in 2011—the Argus II implant, made by
There are a couple reasons giving sound to Second Sight. [15]
the deaf and sight to the blind is among the more
manageable BMI categories. First, similar to the
motor cortex, the sensory cortices are brain regions
that we typically understand very well, in part
because they are also frequently well mapped. The
second is that since the disability is frequently
based at the point where the hearing and eyes
connect to the brain, we can often deal with that
instead of the brain in many early applications. And
while research on the motor cortex has mainly
focused on recording neurons in order to extract
information from the brain, artificial senses work in
the opposite direction by stimulating neurons in
order to receive information. The ground-breaking Fig. 6. Eye Implant
cochlear implant was developed in recent decades,
affecting the ear. The cochlea, out of all the C. Deep brain stimulation
components of the ear, is the one that converts the
Another rudimentary technology that has
sound into a key. Thousands of tiny hairs that line
been around since the late 1980s and is still largely
the cochlea shake when vibrations reach the fluid in
life-changing for many people is deep brain
the cochlea. The cells of these hairs are attached to
stimulation. It also falls under a category of BMI
convert the mechanical energy of the vibrations
that doesn't include external communication;
into electrical signals, which eventually stimulate
instead, it deals with using brain-machine interfaces
the auditory nerve. A cochlear implant is a tiny
to improve or treat yourself inwardly. One or two
computer with a microphone that sits on the ear and
electrode wires, typically with four distinct
a wire that links to a network of electrodes lining
electrode locations, are introduced into the brain in
the cochlea on the other end.
this situation, frequently ending up in the limbic
system. Then a little pacemaker computer is
implanted in the upper chest and wired to the
electrodes. [16]

Fig. 5. Ear Implant

The retinal implant represents a similar

revolution occurring in the field of blindness. A
retinal condition frequently causes blindness. When
this is the case, a retinal implant can work similarly Fig. 7. Deep brain stimulation
When necessary, the electrodes can then provide a
brief zap that has a number of beneficial effects.
Like:
 Parkinson's patients' tremors can be
lessened
 Reduce the severity of seizures
 Compose people with OCD
IV. CURRENT INNOVATIONS
A group at the University of Illinois is creating a
silk interface: [17]
Fig. 8. Silk interface
A thin bundle of silk can be wrapped up
and rather painlessly introduced into the brain.
Theoretically, it would then spread out around the
brain and shrink into the contours. There would be
pliable silicon transistor arrays on the silk. A
temporary tattoo-like electrode array was printed
on Hong Yeo's skin during his TEDx Talk, and
experts believe this method might be applied to the
brain:[18]
Fig. 9. Electrode tattoo
Another team is working on a type of electrode-
lined neural mesh that is nanoscale in size and can
be injected into the brain using a syringe: [19]
Fig. 10. Neural mesh
Fig. 11. Neural mesh demo
V. FUTURE
BMI would drastically change how
humans handle communication. "Communication"
can refer to human-to-human / human-to-computer
interactions. Human-to-computer connection is the
focus of motor communication; this is the
incredibly cool update to the old idea of using the
motor cortex as a remote control.
Motor communication will begin with
restoration applications for the disabled, like many
other categories of future brain interface possibility.
As those development efforts continue to advance
the possibilities, the technology will start to be used
to create augmentation applications for the non-
disabled as well. Anyone can move anything
designed to be operated by a brain remote using the
same technology that will enable a quadriplegic to
use their thoughts as a remote control to move a
bionic limb. But in the future, lots of things will be
built that way. For e.g.: opening your car’s door,
setting heater temperature, opening fridge door,
steering vehicles, playing piano, etc. all using only
your mind.
Words are compressed approximations of
uncompressed thoughts. Thoughts occur to humans
at a rate much faster than he can speak. Thought
communication would get rid of this lossy
transmission and replace it with a way in which one
directly communicates through thoughts with each
other. It's challenging to truly comprehend what it [7] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Human_EEG_with_prominent_alpha-rhythm.png
might be like to think alongside someone. We’ve [8] http://www.schalklab.org/sites/default/files/misc/
layersofthebrain.png
never been able to try. We communicate with [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocorticography#/
media/
ourselves through thoughts and with everyone else File:Intracranial_electrode_grid_for_electrocorticography.
through symbolic representations of thought, and png
[10] https://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2009/08/
that’s all we can imagine. Even weirder would be bionic-implants/
[11] https://youtu.be/TJJPbpHoPWo
the concept of a group thinking together. BMI [12] https://medschool.duke.edu/news/monkeys-drive-
could also feed one person with another's sensory wheelchairs-using-only-their-thoughts
[13] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
information and make him/her feel those exact science/wp/2015/03/03/a-paralyzed-woman-flew-a-f-35-
fighter-jet-in-a-simulator-using-only-her-mind/
things. For e.g.: one could go on a hike and the [14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584574/
other could experience the same things he/ she [15] https://retinatoday.com/articles/2015-mar/the-next-
generation-of-artificial-vision
might experience on a hike while sitting at home. [16] https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/deep-brain-
Ability to read sensory input from the BMI’s would stimulation-decade-surgical-relief-not-just-pd
[17] https://www.technologyreview.com/2010/04/19/204716/
also mean that one could record their brain-interfaces-made-of-silk/
dreams/memories and play it back. [18] https://www.wired.com/2013/02/skin-printed-electrodes/
[19] https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/207848-injectable-
neuro-mesh-covers-the-brain-can-control-individual-
VI. CONCLUSION neurons

BMI is a rapidly growing field with great

potential to restore lost motor and sensory
functions in people with neurological disorders or
injuries. While the current state of the art in BMI
technologies has shown promising results, there are
still many challenges to be addressed, such as
developing more robust and reliable implantable
devices, improving the spatial and temporal
resolution of non-invasive methods, and addressing
ethical and social issues. It is a rapidly developing
field that aims to connect the human brain directly
to machines or computers. The ultimate goal of
BMIs is to create a seamless connection between
the brain and technology, allowing for direct
control of devices and the ability to communicate
with not only computers but also another person
using only the power of thought. This technology
has the potential to revolutionize the way we
interact with machines and each other and could
have a significant impact on fields such as
medicine, prosthetics, and human-computer and
human-human interaction. However, there is still a
lot of research that needs to be done in order to
fully realize the potential of BMIs and overcome
current challenges such as implant rejection, lack of
precision and long-term reliability.

References
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
S0166223606001470
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
S092523121401323X
[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/
fnsys.2021.578875/full#h4
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34452-
w#Sec2
[5] https://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Magnetic_resonance_imaging