Video: PBS Reports On Bionic Limb Development

Video: PBS Reports On Bionic Limb Development: "

It’s hard to keep up with all the developments in the bionics and cybernetics worlds: so many universities and private institutions are working on so many projects that by the time you report one, another has leapfrogged it. PBS News Hour has put together a nice little survey of the current tech, interviewing Dean Kamen and a number of other inventors and researchers in the field. Feeling out of date? Watch away.

The full transcript can be found here if you don’t feel like watching, though it’s really great to see some of this stuff in action.

[via BoingBoing]

"

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting'

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting': "

Quite frankly, you've got it just a bit too easy. You rise 98 seconds before you're scheduled to clock in, you mash a power button, and suddenly, you're at work. PJs still caked to your legs, mouth still steaming from a lack of brushing. You're a telecommuter, and you're the envy of the working world. In fact, it'd be just stellar if you'd do us all a solid and add a sliver of complexity to your workday -- you know, like swapping out your OfficeMax special for an elliptical machine. And maybe, just maybe, you can convert your laptop into one that's pedal-powered, forcing you to keep churning for fear of dropping from the virtual office. And no, you can't ask for donations to cover the $8,000 price tag -- your fuel savings from last week alone should just about cover it. Harrumph.

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Medical Xpress  |  Hammacher Schlemmer  | Email this | Comments"

Microsoft's ergonomically alliterative Comfort Curve Keyboard makes a contoured comeback

Microsoft's ergonomically alliterative Comfort Curve Keyboard makes a contoured comeback: "

Like a vinyl record left out in the sun too long, Microsoft's Comfort Curve Keyboard has returned, albeit slightly more warped than before. The ergonomic peripheral is an attempt to improve the comfort and posture of users who just don't go in for the split variety. The 3000 features uniformly-sized QWERTY keys, offering up a similar layout to traditional straight keyboards. You'll be able to get your fingers on the input device in August for $20, to see if the comfort does indeed match the curves.

Microsoft's ergonomically alliterative Comfort Curve Keyboard makes a contoured comeback originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Microsoft  | Email this | Comments"

Video: Complete Hand Recognition With 5-Finger Mouse Amenbo (Video)

Video: Complete Hand Recognition With 5-Finger Mouse Amenbo (Video): "

This looks like something straight out of “Minority Report”: Japan-based robot venture Double Research & Development Co. [JP] has developed a 5-finger mouse [JP] that can track the movements and pressure of individual fingers and send the information to a computer to trigger actions.

Users can also use two hands at the same time to control the device, dubbed amenbo, for complex actions. The amenbo can identify which finger of which hand is being used. It’s also possible to use less than five finger at a time.

Its maker explains:

It is also different from touch panels since a special sensor is attached to each finger, so it can identify which finger on whose hand it is, and even if you lift your fingers off it can follow them from beginning to end.

The Amenbo, in its current form, supports multi-touch operations on Windows 7.

This video (in English), shot by our friends at Diginfonews in Tokyo, provides more insight:

"

Road Trains--Not Driverless Cars--Are The Future Of Hands-Free Driving

Road Trains--Not Driverless Cars--Are The Future Of Hands-Free Driving: "

Before we get cars driven fully by computers, we'll have platoons of vehicles lead by a professional driver that let you take your eyes off the road and save fuel. They'll be on the road in Europe by 2020.

Google may be grabbing headlines for its experiments with driverless cars, but fully robotic vehicles probably aren't the next step in our automotive future--think about how long it will take for governments to approve the technology and for auto companies to manufacture driverless cars en masse. Instead, we may soon see vehicle platoons (aka 'road trains') that allow software-equipped cars to automatically follow a professional driver in a 'lead car'. It's a technology that could reduce congestion and increase both speed and fuel economy--and according to Volvo, it may be on European roads by 2020.

'This is easier than what Google is trying to do,' Erik Coelingh, a
technical specialist at Volvo, tells Fast Company. 'What we are trying to do is
take a step in the middle between the adaptive cruise control cars that
we have
today and the Google car that we have in the future.'

When road train technology is commercialized, a driver equipped with platooning software
could use an in-vehicle navigation screen to find the nearest platoon
and drive to the end of it. At that point, the car could wirelessly connect to the platoon and take over
braking, acceleration, and steering--and drivers could safety start texting or watching a movie.

Volvo imagines that professional drivers would lead each platoon,
though there is no technical reason why regular drivers couldn't take
over. But just as bus drivers are required to have special licenses,
Coelingh believes that road train lead drivers should probably have
special qualifications for the job. Employing professional drivers would
also remove a lot of legal hurdles, since each road train would be led
by a real, live human.

[youtube kpv9YJ4OvkE]

Beyond giving drivers the opportunity to
relax on the highway, road trains have a number of advantages over
today's cars: They're ostensibly safer, and they save fuel (driving
close to the car in front of you reduces aerodynamic drag forces, which
are a major contributor to fuel consumption).

So far, Volvo has
successfully completed tests on a closed track in Sweden with one lead
vehicle and one following car. Next up: driving in platoon formation
with several vehicles at the same time on a closed track, and then
moving into the real world.

Volvo is working on road platooning as part of the EU's Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) Project, an (apparently existential) initiative that aims to put road trains on unmodified highways--no embedded magnets under the road, for example--where they can safely interact with traffic.

'What we want to try to do is take cars that we have in production today and modify
them as little as possible in order to allow them to drive on the road-train
platoon project,' says Coelingh.

Major auto companies are already working on a common communication standard for intelligent vehicles. This will allow platoon-ready cars from a variety of automakers to communicate with each other.

There are still kinks to work out, of course. What happens if the software malfunctions while a car is in a platoon? How many auto companies need to be involved to make this viable on a large scale? And who will pay the professional drivers?

'We're in the research stage, so we cannot solve all the problems,' says Coelingh. 'The most important thing is that we have the cars communicating with each other.'

Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.

"

Swedish University Testing Wheelchair That Maps Its Surroundings

Swedish University Testing Wheelchair That Maps Its Surroundings: "

Back in March, we saw a project using a head-mounted Kinect to sense and alert the user to obstacles in their path. Researchers at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden are working on a similar system, but building it into a wheelchair.

It was tested this week by a grad student hopeful who is himself visually impaired, and he pronounced it solid. The system looks quite bulky, however, and is limited to detecting objects within a narrow plane, so it wouldn’t pick up, say, a curb or overhang.

Still, it’s interesting research, and could be the start of a new kind of intelligent wheelchair that could let blind and partially sighted people get around their neighborhoods a bit easier.

[via Gizmag]

"

Video: Excellent Bionic Hand In Action

Video: Excellent Bionic Hand In Action: "

Body augmentation and limb replacement are just hugely interesting fields right now. We’ve got bionic legs, bionic eyes, even bionic cats. Bionic hands have been a troublesome topic for research because of the inadequacy of current technology in replicating fine motor control. This arm, being wielded by a young Austrian fellow who lost the use of his hand in an accident, isn’t quite perfect, but it sure is impressive as hell.

As you can see in the BBC’s video, he won’t be playing the piano any time soon, but replacing limbs isn’t about that — it’s about getting basic functions working again, like holding a glass or tying your shoes. Both of those things seem totally doable, and I’m sure stuff like pressing buttons, holding a shopping basket, and other common tasks are equally possible.

This is a neuroprosthetic, meaning it actually taps into the unused nerves that used to control the hand. At this point we can’t tap into too many — our electrodes and mechanics just aren’t good enough — but there are enough that you can have several degrees of freedom and analog control, which is goddamn amazing. There’s a ton of room for improvement, which isn’t a criticism so much as an aspirational statement. In just five or ten years these things are going to be looking real nice.

There’s more information at the BBC story, including some other researchers and bionic limb users. Exciting times, people!

[via Reddit]

"