Bionic Leg the Next Step in Prosthetics

Bionic Leg the Next Step in Prosthetics: "

There have been great advances in the use of prosthetic limbs, making them lighter, more comfortable, and easier to move. Scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Center for Bionic Medicine are working on a project to create a robotic prosthesis that would be controlled by the person’s own nervous system, and powered so that it can move on its own.





Hailey Daniswicz, 20, lost her lower leg to bone cancer in 2005, and is training a computer avatar to recognize slight movements in her thigh. She has electrodes attached to nine different muscles in her thigh, and can see her progress on the screen as she flexes and moves her muscles. The computer begins to recognize the intent of the user over time.

Daniswicz is participating in a clinical trial sponsored by the U.S. Army. The study uses electromyography (electrical signals produced by muscles) and pattern recognition computer software to control the next generation of robotic limbs. She will eventually be fitted with a robotic limb.

“We’re really integrating the machine with the person,” said Levi Hargrove, a research scientist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Center for Bionic Medicine who is leading the project.

The electrodes act as antennas, picking up electrical signals sent from the nerves to the muscles. These signals are fired in a specific pattern, so the computer can recognize how the person wants to move. “The way most prosthetics work now is you have mechanical sensors. You have to push and interact with them,” Hargrove said. “With this, you measure the actual neural intent and have that tell the motor what to do.”

The researchers have already developed prosthetic arms that use nerve impulses to operate. A leg is the next step. One surprising finding is that patients were able to operate the ankle joint as well as the knee joint. Researchers had thought that would require surgery implanting additional nerve endings to accomplish. The fact that it does not require surgery makes the population of people who will be eligible to receive these robotic legs very broad.

Right now, most prosthetic legs are pretty passive. They are operated by the user swinging them out. This robotic limb would be powered, and move on its own. It would be a much more natural movement. It is too early to say now when these would be available, but we are close than we’ve ever been before.

[via Reuters]

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Students create affordable eye-tracking tablet for the disabled

Students create affordable eye-tracking tablet for the disabled: "

Disabled users have long been able to control computers with just the flick of an eye, but those hardware and software packages are prohibitively expensive. Heck, the surprisingly accurate Tobii PCEye is a veritable steal at $6,900. And, while we can't vouch for its usability, engineering students at Brigham Young University have managed an impressive feat, by whipping up an eye-tracking Windows 7 tablet that costs under $1,500. The system was created as part of a partnership with EyeTech Digital Systems, which plans to market the devices in parts of the world where other eye-tracking solutions are unaffordable -- like just about anywhere the roads aren't paved with gold. We could even see a few able-bodied (but incredibly lazy) bloggers getting some use out of this -- mornings around here would be a lot easier if we could double-fist piping hot coffee mugs while typing with our eyeballs.

Continue reading Students create affordable eye-tracking tablet for the disabled

Students create affordable eye-tracking tablet for the disabled originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ReWalk Robotic Exoskeleton Gives Paraplegics the Ability to Walk

ReWalk Robotic Exoskeleton Gives Paraplegics the Ability to Walk: "

Amit Goffer, the founder of Argo Medical Technologies, recently unveiled a revolutionary exoskeleton that enables paraplegics to stand, walk, and even climb stairs. The bionic device, called ReWalk, is a RoboCop-style suit outfitted with sensors and servos that utilizes simple body movements to produce life-changing results.

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Post tags: Amit Goffer, Argo Medical Technologies, Cyclone Technologies, Design for Health, design for paraplegics, Paraplegics Ability to Walk, technology Exoskeleton, walking for wheelchair bound, walking technology

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Can The Internet Make You Healthier?

Can The Internet Make You Healthier?: "

Editor’s note: This guest post was written by Jason Jacobs (@jjacobs22), the co-founder & CEO of RunKeeper, a mobile fitness platform for runners and other fitness enthusiasts.

People are leading busier lives than ever before – working longer, sleeping less, stressing more, working out less frequently, and eating the wrong foods. As a result, it’s gotten more difficult for an increasing number of people, myself included, to stay in shape. Unfortunately, there’s no pill you can take or button to push to ‘make it all better.’ Staying in shape requires developing healthy habits across a number of key areas over a sustained period of time (hopefully, a lifetime).

Different things motivate different people when it comes to increasing physical activity. Some are data junkies, who long for more data to analyze and to hold themselves accountable. Others are social creatures that thrive on the encouragement they receive from others. Some are competitors, and do their best when head-to-head. And still others are at their best when you turn things into a game and dial up the fun. The key is to identify your personal motivational drivers, and then set up a routine that best aligns with them.

Many of the characteristics described above can already be found in the physical world – join the gym, sign up for a group fitness class, take lessons from a personal trainer, participate in a running club, etc. These are all good options for people who have the time, the resources, and the flexibility in their schedules to make these options work. But what about for everyone else?

Well, there’s good news for everyone else. Exciting innovations are occurring on a number of fronts, making it possible for the emergence of a new kind of platform – a virtual fitness platform. I believe so much in this future that I am building a company to try to make it happen faster. These platforms will embody the best attributes that exist in the in-person physical world, and enable people to access them virtually, from wherever they are, whenever they have time, easily and inexpensively.

Several convergences are happening in parallel that will elevate these platforms from a cool niche for early adopters or data junkies to powerful systems that gain mainstream, global adoption. One is the rise of smartphones as mobile computing devices. Many applications that used to require expensive, standalone devices are now harnessing the power of smartphones instead. This means that instead of purchasing an expensive fitness tracking device, in many cases, the phone is becoming a worthy and inexpensive (or even free) substitute.

Another exciting trend is the emergence of connected health/fitness sensors. More and more health/fitness data is being collected from increasingly powerful sensors, ranging from smartphones to wi-fi bathroom scales to sleep monitoring devices, and beyond. Even equipment like treadmills at the gym is becoming connected, and more sensors collecting additional biometric data are emerging almost weekly. The fitness sensors that collect this data are less expensive, easier to use, more powerful, lighter, and more accurate than they have ever been before. It’s also easier to get the collected data off of these devices, and to store and gain meaningful insight from this data over time. Ultimately, aggregating the data from these devices and equipment in one place will enable users to correlate their data across categories, and to spot trends in order to gain insight into their individual health drivers in a way that has never been possible before.

The final piece to fall into place is the online social revolution. Web services are able to foster user experiences that more closely simulate real-world interactions. Participate in a virtual community, train with virtual activity partners, get cheered on by virtual spectators, follow virtual training programs, and get trained by virtual coaches. The more realistic these virtual experiences become, the lesser the need to make special trips to the gym, pay for personal trainers, or sign up for in-person fitness classes; you can get comparable results virtually for less while enjoying greater flexibility.

Virtual platforms have a fundamental advantage over their counterparts in the physical world that will enable them to deliver far better results over time – access to data. Data about individual users that empower them to make changes to their health. Data about the aggregate community that allows users to see how they’re doing against others who are like them and have similar goals. And data that fosters the optimization of the platform itself over time, as it learns how to continually make changes that enable the aggregate community to get healthier. As the components of virtual platforms continue to evolve, they’ll continue to deliver better results across more aspects of people’s health/fitness.

Global health is gaining more and more mind-share as people realize the scope of the obesity problem and the corresponding costs that come with it. As virtual health/fitness platforms evolve, they have the potential to fundamentally alter the state of world health in a positive way, by empowering people to better manage their health on an individual basis, by making these tools accessible to the masses, and by using the aggregate data sets they generate to continually self-optimize and improve the way that their services are delivered.

There are several contenders vying to be the virtual platform that makes meaning of all of this data. Some are device manufacturers like Garmin. Others are footwear/apparel companies like Nike or Adidas. And some, like Google Health or RunKeeper (our platform) are taking more of an open, input-agnostic approach. It is still the early phases of this platform evolution, and while there may ultimately be consolidation, there is more than enough room in the meantime for several interesting companies to get built.

CrunchBase Information

FitnessKeeper

Information provided by CrunchBase

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Fingual turns sign language into text

Fingual turns sign language into text: "

Boffins over at the Osaka and Shinshu Universities in Japan have managed to squeeze their brains to come up with the special sensor-equipped glove which allows one to enter text on a computer, simply by making gestures or shapes using your hands or fingers. Of course, this functionality will be made available to any kind of electronic device eventually. How is this made possible? Well, the tip of each glove boasts of a small magnet, which means as you change the shape of your hand, it will also affect the shape of the magnetic field around the glove. Magnetic sensors will be used to measure these changes, where the unique shapes of the field will then be converted into text depending on a pre-determined data set. Currently, the accuracy level stands at around 90%, which is quite decent but to get 100% would be better.

Fingual turns sign language into text, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Motorola Xoom Review,

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AMO Arm pneumatic prosthetic does mind-control on the cheap

AMO Arm pneumatic prosthetic does mind-control on the cheap: "

We're no strangers to amputees moving stuff with their minds -- for that matter, a thought-controlled prosthetic isn't really new to us, either -- but the pneumatic arm you see here isn't like other intelligent limbs. Unlike most mind-operated prosthesis, the Artificial Muscle-Operated (AMO) Arm doesn't require invasive surgery, and according to its inventors, it costs a quarter of the price to make. Here's how the thing works: the host human wears a headset that sends brain signals to a chip in the arm that then matches those signals to a database of related actions, triggering a series of pneumatic pumps and valves to move the limb. Thus, if the wearer thinks 'up,' the arm moves up. The AMO Arm's creators, a pair of undergraduate biomed students, say that not only is their invention a steal to produce, but it also takes just minutes to acclimate to, which has us wondering, do you have to be missing an arm to get a hold of one of these things? You know, we can always use an extra hand. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading AMO Arm pneumatic prosthetic does mind-control on the cheap

AMO Arm pneumatic prosthetic does mind-control on the cheap originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink gizmag  |  Ryerson University  | Email this | Comments"

Large multi-touch display used as a giant microscope

Large multi-touch display used as a giant microscope: "

If you had a large touchscreen at your disposal, the first thing you would probably think of doing is play Angry Birds on it. Well, believe it or not, touchscreen displays can be used for productive purposes as well. Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland collaborated with Multitouch Ltd to combine a giant touchscreen with a networked digital microscopy system and came up with a new breed of microscope. Instead of having to squint down an uncomfortable eyepiece, scientists will be able to make use of a giant touchscreens to intuitively manipulate the lens while observing the subject. Sounds like a great way to make use of a touchscreen. Hit the break to watch it in action:

More…

Large multi-touch display used as a giant microscope, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

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