In a landmark advancement for neurotechnology, Chinese researchers have demonstrated unprecedented brain-machine interface (BMI) capabilities enabling two paralyzed patients to perform complex physical tasks through thought alone. The breakthrough achievements—announced December 17, 2025, by the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences—include the world’s first mental control of a power wheelchair and robotic dog for delivery retrieval, plus precise manipulation of a robotic arm for drinking activities.
The two patients, both males in their thirties suffering from high-level paralysis, received minimally invasive BMI implants developed through collaboration between the CAS center, Shanghai Huashan Hospital, and corporate partners. The implant procedures—conducted in June and October 2025 through a mere 5-millimeter cranial puncture—represent the smallest such implementation globally, with the implant device itself being approximately half the size of Neuralink’s comparable technology.
This research signifies a quantum leap beyond the team’s previous March 2025 achievement where a patient mentally controlled a computer cursor. The new cases enable three-dimensional interaction with the physical environment, dramatically expanding possibilities for self-care, employment, and social participation. One patient has already secured employment as an intern product sorter, utilizing brain control to perform online data annotation for AI verification systems in vending machines.
Technical innovations were crucial to these advancements. Researchers developed high-compression, high-fidelity neural data compression techniques and created hybrid decoding models capable of extracting usable signals in noisy environments. By addressing ‘cross-day stability’ challenges through neural manifold alignment, the team maintained reliable decoder performance despite environmental interference and physiological variations.
Perhaps most impressively, the system achieves end-to-end delay of under 100 milliseconds from neural signal acquisition to device execution—faster than the body’s natural neural transmission speed. Patients describe the experience as intuitive and seamless, comparable to controlling video game characters without conscious effort.
According to lead scientist Zhao Zhengtuo, the research represents significant progress toward practical clinical applications. The team anticipates scalable applications for restoring motor and language functions within three years, breakthroughs in sensory restoration and neuropsychiatric disorder treatment within five years, and highly minimally invasive systems enabling both medical and consumer uses within a decade. Future goals include achieving sufficiently fine control for activities such as playing the piano with mind-controlled robotic fingers.
