Thought-control research brings mental channel changing ever closer
Pinky and the Brain don’t get nearly the respect they deserve, but then again, neither do the lab coat-wearing boffins who make great strides behind sterilized doors to bring us one step closer to mass laziness. The latest development in the everlasting brain control saga takes us to the University of Washington, where a team of researchers are carefully studying the differences between doing an action and simply imagining the action. So far, they’ve discovered that interacting with brain-computer interfaces enables patients to create “super-active populations of brain cells.” Naturally, this finding holds promise for rehabilitating patients after stroke or other neurological damage, but it also suggests that “a human brain could quickly become adept at manipulating an external device such as a computer interface or a prosthetic limb.” Or a remote control, or a Segway, or a railgun. We can’t speak for you, but we certainly dig where this is headed. Video of the findings is after the break.
Continue reading Thought-control research brings mental channel changing ever closer
Thought-control research brings mental channel changing ever closer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Energy-recycling foot makes it easier for amputees to walk
What’s better than an artificial nose? Why, an artificial foot, of course! University of Michigan researchers have developed a new prosthetic foot that could one day make it much easier for amputees to walk. Put simply, this new prototype drastically cuts the energy spent per step, as it harnesses the energy exerted when taking a step and enhances the power of ankle push-off. The device is able to capture dissipated energy, and an inbuilt microcontroller tells the foot to return the energy to the system at precisely the right time. Tests have shown that those using this here foot spent just 14 percent more energy to walk than one would spend when walking naturally, which is a rather significant decrease from the 23 percent uptick experienced with conventional prostheses. If you’re still baffled, there’s a pretty wicked video demonstration waiting for you after the break.
Continue reading Energy-recycling foot makes it easier for amputees to walk
Energy-recycling foot makes it easier for amputees to walk originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Artificial nose becomes coffee analyzer, sniffs out KIRF Starbucks venues
Artificial schnozzes have been sniffing foreign objects for years now, but rarely are they engineered to sniff out specific things. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign have done just that, though, with a new snout that acts as a coffee analyzer. Reportedly, the device can “distinguish between ten well-known commercial brands of coffee and can also make a distinction between coffee beans that have been roasted at different temperatures or lengths of time.” The significance here is that this distinction is incredibly difficult to make, and it could one day help coffee growers determine whether batches are as good as prior batches on the cheap. More importantly, however, it could help the modern java hunter determine whether or not they’re walking in a corporate Starbucks or one of those “branded” kiosks with two-fifths the menu. Brilliant, right?
Artificial nose becomes coffee analyzer, sniffs out KIRF Starbucks venues originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BeBionic teases advanced bionic hand, Terminator 5 now has a prop supplier (video)
It won’t officially launch until May, but we’re already guessing that the folks over at DaVinci are casting quizzical glances towards BeBionic. The UK-based outfit is teasing what it calls the “next generation of fully articulated myo-electric hands,” which are said to provide “a range of naturally compliant grip patterns that provide repeatable accuracy” to those who have lost their own hand(s). Better still, the functions (speed, grip force, grip patterns, etc.) can be customized to suit each individual user, and the integrated wireless chip means that said tweaking can take place sans any troubling USB cables. The company’s also planning to reveal the planet’s first powered wrist with rotation capabilities as well as flexion / extension, and the range just wouldn’t be complete without silicone skin available in 19 tones. Hop on past the break for a couple of promo videos — we get the feeling the world of prosthetics is about to take a huge leap forward.
Continue reading BeBionic teases advanced bionic hand, Terminator 5 now has a prop supplier (video)
BeBionic teases advanced bionic hand, Terminator 5 now has a prop supplier (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device
Alright, we’ll leave all the zingers for you and our mercurial staff to deliver, and just use this space to dish some info on the hardware. Ivor Kovic, an emergency physician from Croatia, has recently demoed a new iPhone cradle that turns the already multifunctional handset into a CPR assistance device. By using an app titled Pocket CPR and the built-in accelerometer, he can get audio and visual feedback to tell him if he’s doing it correctly, while his basic (but awesome) cradle allows for longer CPR sessions if necessary. Check out the video after the break, then hit the comments with your finest witticisms.
Paul: “Come on Luke Wilson’s Career, stay with me now, you’re not going to die on me!”
Darren: “Man, I could really get a better look at what’s going on if this thing had a 9.7-inch IPS panel…”
Chris: “Everyone is either dying or staying alive these days, and we began to ask ourselves: is there room for something in the middle?”
Nilay: “He then died.”
Vlad: “Our other cradle also measures rhythm and depth, though its purpose isn’t entirely medicinal.”
Andy: “A rare case where a lack of multitasking is actually helpful to the task on hand.”
Thomas: “Can you stop dying for a second, I have to take this call.”
Joe: “This actually adds an intriguing level of complexity to Super Monkey Ball 2.”
Richard Lai: “Come on… COME ON!! Wait a tick… AT&T? No wonder it isn’t working. Dammit.”
Tim: “Looks like this guy’s heart (puts on sunglasses)… has dropped its last call.” Yeeeaaaaaahhhh…
Continue reading Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device
Caption contest: iPhone as a CPR device originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tosiba’s Viamo is the tablet your doctor has been dreaming of
Convertible tablets are a dime a dozen in the laptop space, but very, very few of them can save your life. Toshiba’s Viamo is the one that could — when used by someone who knows how to control it, that is. It’s a portable ultrasound device that has some tactile knobs and buttons for the old-school practitioners, but can be entirely controlled by that touchscreen, which folds flat. Sure, it isn’t as portable as other ultrasound machines we’ve seen before, but it certainly looks quite a bit more advanced, and this one mounts on a pole for easy wheeling around your busy ER — important when helicopters crash into your roof, ambulances explode out front, and two doctors madly in love need to make a little room. Viamo is newly approved by the FDA and so is now available in the US at a cost that we wouldn’t hazard to guess at.
Tosiba’s Viamo is the tablet your doctor has been dreaming of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tosiba’s Viamo is the tablet your doctor has been dreaming of
Convertible tablets are a dime a dozen in the laptop space, but very, very few of them can save your life. Toshiba’s Viamo is the one that could — when used by someone who knows how to control it, that is. It’s a portable ultrasound device that has some tactile knobs and buttons for the old-school practitioners, but can be entirely controlled by that touchscreen, which folds flat. Sure, it isn’t as portable as other ultrasound machines we’ve seen before, but it certainly looks quite a bit more advanced, and this one mounts on a pole for easy wheeling around your busy ER — important when helicopters crash into your roof, ambulances explode out front, and two doctors madly in love need to make a little room. Viamo is newly approved by the FDA and so is now available in the US at a cost that we wouldn’t hazard to guess at.
Tosiba’s Viamo is the tablet your doctor has been dreaming of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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