An electrical stimulator transmitting information into selected neural circuits is a promising approach for neural prostheses or animal robots. However, traditional stimulators are based on rigid printed circuit board (PCB) technology; technological limitations hindered the development of stimulators, especially for experiments involving free-moving subjects. Here we described a small (1.6 × 1.8 × 1.6 cm), lightweight (4 g, including a 100 mA h lithium battery) and multi-channel (eight unipolar or four bipolar biphasic channels) cubic wireless electrical stimulator exploiting flexible PCB technology. In comparison with the traditional stimulator, an appliance of both flexible PCB and cube structure makes it smaller and lighter, and enhances its stability. Stimulation sequences can be constructed with 100 selectable current levels, 40 selectable frequency levels and 20 selectable pulse-width-ratio levels. Moreover, the distance of wireless communication can reach approximately 150 m. Both in vitro and in vivo results have demonstrated functionality of the stimulator. The feasibility of remote pigeon's navigation using the proposed stimulator was successfully verified.

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Application of brain-computer interface (BCI) in class has been reported by a large number of literatures. The current research on the BCI in classroom teaching is mainly from the perspective of researcher, but little attention has been paid to the attitude and cognition of user. Aiming at the problems of BCI in classroom teaching, a questionnaire about college students' attitudes towards the use of BCI in class was carried out. Data analysis results have shown that the prospects of BCI are relatively good in classroom teaching, but some students have insufficient understanding and have a large bias for the BCI. In addition, for the application of BCI in class, there are many bottlenecks in terms of technology maturity, cognitive biases, ethical issues, and institutional guarantees for the BCI. In-depth research is needed to find ways to crack them. We believe that the change of BCI to traditional teaching mode is limited, but combining the BCI technology with existing teaching methods will help increase student learning motivation and improve learning efficiency in class in the future.