The US military are trying their hand on making an implantable chip that may transform soldiers into cyborgs by linking their brains directly to computers. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has developed the brain-machine interface, claiming that the neural connection is going to open the channel between modern electronics and the human brain.

This is not the first time ever that DARPA researchers have tried to create a brain-machine interface, but earlier versions have had restricted functionality. The new Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) research program of the agency is targeting to increase brain neuron interaction from tens of thousands to millions at once.

DARPA’s new Neural Engineering System Design is looking forward to make data transmission between the human brain and the digital world a reality.

NESD program manager Phillip Alvelda said, “Today’s best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem [from the 1970’s]. Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between human brain and modern electronics”.

While announcing its intentions, DARPA said that it will ultimately build a chip smaller than one cubic centimeter, or two nickels piled back to back, that can be implanted in the human brain. The chip would work as a neural interface by changing the electrochemical signals sent by neurons in the brain into the ones and zeros that are used in digital communications.

It will be possibly used for making a improving a wearer’s hearing or vision putting outer digital auditory or visual information in the brain. However, DARPA said that before such a thing can happen, the breakthroughs have to be made in synthetic biology, neuroscience, low-power electronics and medical device manufacturing.