NeuroXess participant uses his brain implant to steer AI from sketch to 3D-printed figurine

By Inside BCI · October 2, 2026

A former animation student with severely limited movement below the shoulders since a 2021 accident picked a favourite video-game character, drew a rough sketch of it through his brain implant, and now has a 3D-printed figurine of it. Between the sketch and the object, a large AI model generated design options and AI tools built the digital model. He supplied the idea, the preferences and the final choice.

What NeuroXess disclosed

On 30 September, Shanghai brain-computer interface developer NeuroXess (脑虎科技) disclosed new clinical exploration with its Triple-Full system, the company’s name for a BCI that is fully implanted, fully wireless and fully functional. The participant, identified by the pseudonym Xiaojia, studied animation design before a C4 spinal cord injury in 2021. He received the implant in April 2026 and has trained with it since.

In the creative task, Xiaojia used brain control to draw a sketch and enter prompts. A large AI model generated several visual options, he compared them and chose one, AI tools built a digital model, and a 3D printer produced the figurine. He later used the same approach to design a lighter, better-fitting finger sleeve for operating a tablet touchscreen, also 3D-printed.

In the second task, AI smart glasses mapped his surroundings, identified the area he was looking at and offered control options for the devices in it. Once he confirmed his intent, NeuroXess’s XessOS software turned it into a device command. He adjusted his hospital bed and switched lights and household devices this way.

NeuroXess founder, CEO and chief scientist Tao Hu said the future of brain-computer interfaces is letting a person’s intent call on AI, connect tools and act in the physical world. “People set the goal and make the judgement, and AI and machines help turn ideas into results,” he said.

Where the registration trial stands

The Triple-Full electrodes sit on the surface of the brain, below the dura, and do not penetrate brain tissue. The first clinical implant of the system took place at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, under the team of Mao Ying and Chen Liang, and was made public on 13 December 2025.

The system is now in a registration trial, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07720882, sponsored by NeuroXess with Huashan Hospital as collaborator. It is a prospective, single-arm target-value trial with an estimated 32 participants. It began on 7 July 2026, is recruiting, and has an estimated primary completion date of 30 January 2027. The primary endpoint is the BCI-assisted Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) response rate three months after surgery, a measure of hand and arm function using a brain-controlled pneumatic glove. In July 2026 the system entered the innovative medical device special review programme run by the National Medical Products Administration’s device evaluation centre.

Xiaojia’s April implant predates the registration trial’s July start. The AI-assisted creation and environmental control shown on 30 September are absent from the trial’s listed outcomes.

How closely NeuroXess is following Neuracle’s path

The device name in NeuroXess’s trial registration, implantable brain-computer interface hand motor function compensation system, is the same generic name under which the NMPA approved Neuracle’s NEO-ONE SCI on 13 March 2026. Neuracle’s registration trial enrolled 32 participants and used BCI-assisted ARAT grasp response at three months as a primary endpoint. NeuroXess’s trial uses a similar single-arm design with a pneumatic glove and a three-month BCI-assisted ARAT responder endpoint. It scores the full ARAT where Neuracle scored the grasp subscale, and its electrodes sit below the dura where Neuracle’s sit above it. A design close to one the regulator has already approved could make review more predictable. No submission date has been announced.

Where the AI layer fits

The demonstration carries a commercial argument. The implant supplies a narrow stream of intent, and a large AI model, a vision system and a printer do most of the work that follows. If that division of labour holds, the implant remains essential and differentiation could shift toward the software that turns intent into outcomes. AI model providers and smart-glasses makers could find BCI users a demanding test market and, eventually, a distribution channel.

US developers pair implants with generative output too. In Neuralink’s VOICE trial, a participant with ALS has his decoded speech played back in a synthetic version of his pre-ALS voice.

Routing intent through large AI models and camera-equipped glasses also widens the set of systems that handle neural-derived data, and each added component is another point that could fail or be attacked.

The payment rails a second approval would use

Huashan Hospital performed the first commercial NEO-ONE SCI implant on 13 July 2026 and is the collaborating site for NeuroXess’s registration trial. The National Healthcare Security Administration assigned NEO-ONE SCI a medical insurance code on 15 March, two days after approval. Shanghai’s Hu Hui Bao, a city-backed commercial health insurance scheme, added cover for self-paid BCI surgery materials from its policy year starting 1 July 2026, paying 30 percent of eligible inpatient costs up to RMB 150,000. The payment and pricing rails a second Chinese hand-function BCI would use appear to be in place before that device reaches the market.

Not disclosed

Decoding speed, accuracy, error rates and task completion times for Xiaojia were not released. The AI model and the smart glasses used were not named, and whether either is built in-house or supplied by a third party is not known. The hospital that performed Xiaojia’s implant and the study protocol he is enrolled under were not stated. The number of people implanted with the Triple-Full system to date, enrolment so far in NCT07720882, pricing, and a target date for an NMPA registration submission are not disclosed.

What to watch

Whether enrolment in NCT07720882 keeps pace with the estimated 30 January 2027 primary completion date, followed by an NMPA registration filing.

Whether NeuroXess publishes quantitative data on the AI-assisted workflows, ideally peer-reviewed, showing how often they work and how long tasks take.

Whether NeuroXess names partners for the AI model or the glasses. A tie-up with a major model provider or device maker would be a stronger commercial signal than the demonstration itself.

Whether NeuroXess’s manufacturing site in Jiangxi province opens in the second half of 2026, as the company planned.

Whether the pricing and reimbursement precedents forming around NEO-ONE SCI carry over to the next approved hand-function BCI in China.

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Cross-reference to prior InsideBCI coverage:

news China NeuroXess 脑虎科技 Triple-Full Tao-Hu XessOS Huashan-Hospital NCT07720882 NMPA generative-AI AI-glasses 3D-printing Neuracle NEO-ONE-SCI Huhuibao medical-insurance