190: Chapter 190 Repeated Tests under Extremely Harsh Conditions

In the days that followed, the space in A-705 Laboratory became somewhat crowded, occupied by newly added testing platforms.

Within the constant temperature and humidity zone, several specially made Rhesus Monkey restraint chairs were lined up. The monkeys' left forearms were connected to mechanical prosthetic limbs, and they were performing repetitive actions such as grasping weights, navigating mazes, and tightening screws.

The Researchers were busy interacting with the monkeys, using food incentives to encourage them to follow the experimental procedures.

Li Wei stood before the central control console, where the screen was divided into over a dozen real-time data windows.

She glanced at the data stream and spoke to Wang Zhe beside her.

“Subject M09, hour 17.”

“Core body temperature has risen by 0.4 degrees, and there's some minor fluctuation in local electromyography. The link strength is alright, within the threshold.”

Wang Zhe leaned over another screen, his brow furrowed as his fingers rapidly tapped the keyboard to pull up a high-speed camera playback.

“Look here. When grasping the 5-gram weight, a millimeter-level uncontrollable tremor appeared at the tip of the index finger.”

“The frequency is very high, lasting 3.7 milliseconds. Conventional physiological tremor models cannot explain it.”

Li Wei leaned forward slightly, staring intently at the nearly imperceptible tremor.

“Mark it. See if there's any correlation abnormality with the neural signals and local blood oxygen saturation at that same moment.”

She casually pulled up the relevant data stream on her own screen.

“Already running it!”

Wang Zhe replied, his fingers never stopping as he brought up the enlightenment analysis interface.

“enlightenment is calculating, but this tiny movement is buried in a mountain of data; it's too hard to sift through. We don't even know if it's caused by external interference.”

His tone was a bit irritable as he scratched his hair.

Chen Youhua had walked up behind the two of them at some point, watching quietly.

His gaze moved between several key data windows before he suddenly spoke, his voice low but clear.

“It's not background noise.”

He reached out and pointed to a secondary channel waveform representing M09's neural signals on Li Wei's screen.

“Notice this frequency band. There's a faint harmonic covered by the main signal. It's very weak, but it aligns perfectly with the timing of that tremor just now.”

Li Wei and Wang Zhe were immediately drawn in.

“Amplify and filter!”

Li Wei operated the controls as she spoke, and Wang Zhe also hurried to process it synchronously on his own screen.

Sure enough, after amplification and specific filtering, an extremely faint abnormal pulse signal was isolated, its timing perfectly matching the tremor of the mechanical finger.

“Is this... signal interference?”

Wang Zhe guessed instinctively.

“Is it being affected by something outside? Or is it crosstalk from our own other components?”

Li Wei didn't answer immediately. She quickly pulled up a microscopic electrophysiological model diagram of the artificial neuron interface and stared at it for a few seconds.

“It doesn't look like external interference. It's more like the link interface itself, under high-frequency and long-duration activation, had a small issue with the ion channels at some artificial neuron terminals. They might have experienced momentary fatigue or failed to synchronize properly.”

“This microscopic glitch was amplified by the mechanical structure, resulting in the macroscopic tremor we just saw.”

She tapped a key location on the model diagram with her finger.

“Can it be consistently reproduced?”

Chen Youhua looked at Li Wei and Wang Zhe.

Wang Zhe shook his head with a bitter smile.

“It's hard! We didn't find it in any of our previous routine tests, which means the trigger conditions are extremely harsh. A whole bunch of unlucky factors have to align; the probability is too low.”

Chen Youhua nodded, his tone flat.

“Then we must create those conditions.”

“Modify the test protocol. For all subjects, add a test item where long-duration, high-frequency fine operations are followed by a sudden high-intensity load. Actively induce this desynchronization.”

He turned to the two of them.

“Wang Zhe, update the test protocols for all subjects.”

“Immediately follow long-duration high-frequency fine operations with a sudden high-intensity load test.”

“Li Wei, adjust the focus of data monitoring to pay special attention to this tremor pattern.”

“Understood!”

Wang Zhe immediately agreed and turned to communicate through the laboratory's dedicated app.

“Attention all groups! Updating test procedures! I repeat, high-intensity load following fine operations! Data team, keep a close watch!”

He shouted while rapidly tapping the keyboard to modify the background commands.

Li Wei, meanwhile, quickly pulled up a new monitoring template on the console and issued instructions to the data team.

“Focus monitoring on neural signal secondary channel harmonics after high-frequency operations, local micro-environment parameters, and abnormal fluctuation patterns in mechanical terminal stress feedback. All relevant data should be marked and stored separately.”

Over the next few days, the work rhythm in the laboratory became significantly more intense.

The extreme testing plan was strictly implemented, and the Researchers' expressions became more serious.

Wang Zhe stared at the screen and suddenly let out a low cry.

“Sister Wei, look at this! Subject S03!”

He pointed at the screen. A monkey had just finished a set of rapid grasps when the mechanical hand suddenly jerked in the air several times, like a cramp, before stopping.

“It's still trembling, but the pattern seems different this time?”

Li Wei immediately leaned over, her eyes quickly scanning the data stream beside it.

“Two-thousandths of a second before the loss of control, an abnormally high neural signal peak flashed! What does enlightenment say?”

She looked at Wang Zhe's screen.

Wang Zhe had already pulled up enlightenment's preliminary analysis report.

“enlightenment judges that it might be a momentary minor fluctuation in the local micro-environment—for instance, a jump in pH or some ion concentration. This stimulated those particularly sensitive artificial neurons, causing them to collectively disorder and issue a false command.”

“Just like a glitch pulse in a circuit, it's enough to briefly throw the entire system into chaos.”

Li Wei's expression was grave.

“This shows that our artificial neurons still have hidden defects in terms of extreme stability.”

“Their excitation thresholds might drift under long-term pressure.”

Chen Youhua also walked over, looking at the abnormal data and enlightenment's analysis report, falling silent for a few seconds.

Li Wei and Wang Zhe both looked at him, waiting for instructions.

“Record all associated parameters, especially the correspondence between micro-environment fluctuations and abnormal signals.”

Chen Youhua issued the command clearly.

“Then, we'll take two paths simultaneously.”

He looked at Li Wei.

“Li Wei, you are responsible for the material optimization direction.”

“Research whether an intelligent buffer layer can be added at the biological interface, or directly improve the formula of the artificial neuron membrane material to enhance their electrochemical stability. This should make them less prone to feedback under various stimuli and stabilize that excitation threshold.”

Then he turned to Wang Zhe.

“Wang Zhe, you'll partner with enlightenment to solve it from the software level.”

“Design a real-time dynamic filter specifically to monitor the neural signal stream. Once it identifies this kind of disorder—these glitch-like abnormal peaks—the algorithm should immediately intervene to suppress or smooth it out, preventing it from reaching the mechanical arm and causing trouble.”

“Okay!”

Li Wei nodded, already beginning to record key points and possible research ideas on her tablet.

“Understood!”

Wang Zhe also perked up, rubbing his hands together.

“Time to create a super filter!”

With the new division of labor clear, the three of them threw themselves back into their work, striving to conquer that final 8.3%.