Filed under: Transportation

Oh MIT, do the wonders that come from your halls ever cease? Yet another remarkable development is emerging from the fabled institution, and this time it’s an autonomous wheelchair that can remember important places in a given building (read: the hospital ward, your house, the local arcade, etc.) and then take you there on command. In other words, the voice recognizing chair could understand phrases of direction, such as “head to the kitchen,” and it would take on the burden of navigating the halls while letting the rider chill. The researchers are implementing a system that can learn and adapt to the individual user, and in the future, they’d like to add in a collision-avoidance system and mechanical arms to help patients lift and move objects. Say, can regular joes / janes buy these? We’re totally feeling this over the Segway.

[Via medGadget]

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Filed under: Robots, Wearables

ARGO Medical Technologies’ ReWalk has been out a few months now, but it’s tough to really appreciate what this thing can do unless you see a patient utilize one on video. Hailed as a “quasi-robotic ambulation system,” the wearable device was specifically created to assist those with lower-limb disabilities and give them back upright mobility. In the video waiting in the read link, one particular individual relies on the ReWalk to stand up and move about after being stricken to a wheelchair for 20 years — no need to take our word for it, though, real live proof is but a click away.

[Via MedGadget]

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Filed under: Gaming

Here’s your heartwarming story for the day. Microsoft has teamed up with Companions in Courage in order to bring “hundreds” of Xbox 360 kiosks to children’s hospitals across the nation, and the gaming stations have already been installed at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California. The customized units are “hospital-friendly” and come pre-loaded with a variety of E and E10+ rated games, Y-rated television programs, G-rated movies and the Xbox Live headset / Vision camera in order for gamers to play online. Speaking of, each kiosk is wired to a private Live network which “allows hospitalized children across the country to play games and chat” with each other. There’s no word on where the stations are slated to arrive outside of the three venues already mentioned, but those interested in broadening the reach of the endeavor can feel free to donate to the cause.

[Via OhGizmo]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we’ve seen brain power used to give mobility back to the immobile, but a new development in Europe is one-upping current efforts by adding in a hint of artificial intelligence to the tried and true brain-computer interface. The MAIA BCI not only converts signals emitted by the brain into actions — such moving a wheelchair forward — it also thinks for itself when needed in order to assist the user in getting where he / she wants to go. Essentially, the individual need only think about going left or forward (for example), and the machine itself will automatically detect obstacles and potential barriers in order to move more efficiently. As it stands, there’s still quite a bit of testing to be done before MAIA-based wheelchairs would be available to the public, but researchers are already hoping to integrate said technology into artificial limbs and the like.

[Via Physorg]

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Filed under: Displays

Yeah, we’ve got HMDs for the visually impaired, but seriously, who’s for sporting one of those things just to catch an afternoon soap? Thankfully, Dr. Eli Peli (and colleagues) from Harvard Medical School is lookin’ out for said sect, and has developed a method for “enhancing the contrast of images of people and objects of interest on their digital televisions,” which, during trials, was found to enhance legibility and overall enjoyment when watching. Furthermore, the technology is said to be the first to play nice with digital TV images, which seems fairly important considering that analog signals have but a few months to live here in America. Purportedly, the all-important modification that made the adjustments possible could be applied to HDTVs and digital STBs in the future, and sure enough, Peli has already sparked up conversation with Analog Devices in order to create a prototype chip for use in forthcoming sets. Now, if only clearing up those Get Smart reruns were this simple…

[Via InventorSpot, image courtesy of Harvard (PDF)]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Thought-controlled appendages are far from new, but an international team of researchers have apparently created an apparatus that aims to make the lives of paralyzed individuals a tad easier. The Brain2Robot project utilizes electroencephalograph (EEG) signals in order to give patients the ability to control a robotic arm, which could eventually be used to do everything from hold periodicals to lift a cup of coffee. Reportedly, the arm could be ready for commercial use within just a few years, but there’s no mention of an expected price range. Granted, we’d be a bit more excited about all of this if the technology were somehow made mobile, but it’s hard to kvetch about a helping hand, regardless.

[Via Primidi]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

If you’re suddenly overcome with an eerie feeling of déjà vu, fret not, as this idea has certainly been brainstormed before. As scientists aim to make prosthetic limbs more user-friendly, a certain physiatrist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and professor at Northwestern University has developed a technique that enables artificial arms to react directly to the brain’s thoughts. The process, dubbed targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), works by rewiring residual nerves that once carried information to the now-lost appendage to the chest; when the person thinks to move their arm, the chest muscle contracts, and with the help of an electromyogram (EMG), the signal is “directed to a microprocessor in the artificial arm which decodes the data and tells the arm what to do.” Currently, “only” four movements are possible after the procedure, but studies are already in full swing to determine if TMR could be used to bless future patients with an even fuller of range of motion.

[Image courtesy of ScienceDaily]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

There’s a multitude of options out there for handicapped individuals who want to surf the ‘net, but a team at the University of Washington is adding one more by developing software that can convert one’s voice into cursor commands. Notably, the Vocal Joystick doesn’t rely on any speech recognition technology; instead, it “detects [vowel] sounds 100 times a second and instantaneously turns that sound into movement on the screen.” Users are then able to move the mouse around the screen and click on links by simply making a variety of noises, and the cursor even speeds up as the person increases his / her volume. ‘Course, we’re not exactly sure how text is inputted into the address bar, so you’d better have your favorites fully stocked before relying solely on this. Hit the read link for a video demonstration.

[Via Physorg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!