Darren GoonawardanaChief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Collectiv · Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder at Collectiv

The Chinese Company Building the First Real Cyborg

28 Jul 2026 · 3 min

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2:59

In this narrated segment, the host visits BrainCo’s Hangzhou headquarters and walks the viewer through the company’s suite of brain‑computer‑interface (BCI) products and its guiding philosophy. BrainCo’s focus headband, already deployed in Chinese schools, measures students’ attention in real time and has been adapted for ADHD and autism neurofeedback, as well as licensed to Formula 1 drivers. The centerpiece of the visit is an FDA‑approved prosthetic hand that moves directly from the wearer’s thoughts, costing roughly $14,000 versus $100,000 for comparable Western devices and subsidized to $2,200 for disabled users in China, helping 6,000 people in the last year. The company also offers a lightweight robotic knee capable of bearing 400‑500 kg and performing delicate tasks like playing piano. The underlying technology originated from NASA astronaut focus training, later repurposed for medical and performance applications. The host highlights a pivotal leadership decision: rejecting a lucrative brain‑controlled video‑game pitch in favor of socially meaningful products. BrainCo’s ambitious roadmap aims to restore work to 1 million disabled people, heal 10 million brain‑system patients, and reach 100 million BCI users within the next decade, effectively positioning the CEO as a “cyborg” leader. The segment closes with ethical questions about how leaders should evaluate powerful technology—by market size or societal impact—and where the line between human and machine should be drawn.

Chapters

Last episode, I told you I held a device that reads your brain. This is one of them. The Chinese schools are already putting them on children. That part is true. BrainCo makes a focus headband that reads your brainwaves and tells your teacher in real time exactly how well you're paying attention. It's in schools across China. Draw your own conclusions on that. But that's not what stopped me when I walked into their headquarters in Hangzhou. What stopped me was a hand, a prosthetic hand built by BrainCo, controlled entirely by the signals your brain is already sending. You think about moving your fingers, The hand moves. Not a demo, not a prototype. FDA approved since 2022. Here's the story that built BrainCo's mission. An MIT student lost his hand. He was fitted with a BrainCo prosthetic, and he walked back through the MIT campus showing it off to strangers. Look, my hands, it's so cool. Not, I can cope now. Not, I've adjusted. Look, my hands. That became the company's North Star. A Western prosthetic hand costs around $100,000. BrainCo's version, 14,000. Subsidized for disabled people in China, around 2,200. 6,000 people helped in China last year alone. The hand holds up to 20 kilograms. The knee holds 400 to 500 kilograms and is lighter than a real leg. It can play piano, type on a keyboard, pick up food without crushing it. The underlying technology started as NASA astronaut training for focus and concentration. BrainCo adapted it for ADHD treatment, then for children with autism, their StarKid neurofeedback program. Then the school focus bands, now licensed to Formula 1 drivers for concentration under pressure. One technology, 5 applications, each one compounding the last. Now here's the leadership beat that stayed with me. Early in BrainCo's history, they were pitched a brain-controlled video game. Big market, fast revenue, easy win. They said no. The reason? It would have no use for society. A company with genuinely powerful technology chose the harder, slower, more meaningful application and built something that changes lives. I was standing in the room when one of the people on our tour looked at everything BrainCo had built— the hand, the knee, the focus band, the neurofeedback— and said, attach an Optimus arm, add a neural implant, you're already there. Cybernetics. Not the BrainCo team. BrainCo's stated goal for the next 5 to 10 years: 1 million disabled people back to work, 10 million brain system patients healed, 100 million BCI users, The Cyborg CEO is not a metaphor. It's a product roadmap. Here's the question for you as a leader: when powerful technology crosses your desk, what's your first question? Market size? Or what does this actually change for someone? And where are you drawing the line between human and machine? Is that line drawn by your strategy or by your discomfort? In the next episode, I had a conversation with a robot. A real one. You need to hear it.