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Scientists Develop Robotic Hand For People With Quadriplegia (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Scientists have developed a mind-controlled robotic hand that allows people with certain types of spinal injuries to perform everyday tasks such as using a fork or drinking from a cup. The low-cost device was tested in Spain on six people with quadriplegia affecting their ability to grasp or manipulate objects. By wearing a cap that measures electric brain activity and eye movement the users were able to send signals to a tablet computer that controlled the glove-like device attached to their hand. Participants in the small-scale study were able to perform daily activities better with the robotic hand than without, according to results published Tuesday in the journal Science Robotics. It took participants just 10 minutes to learn how to use the system before they were able to carry out tasks such as picking up potato chips or signing a document. According to Surjo R. Soekadar, a neuroscientist at the University Hospital Tuebingen in Germany and lead author of the study, participants represented typical people with high spinal cord injuries, meaning they were able to move their shoulders but not their fingers. There were some limitations to the system, though. Users had to have sufficient function in their shoulder and arm to reach out with the robotic hand. And mounting the system required another person's help.
*crickets* That's a lame joke even by Dane Cook/Carlos Mencia standards.
I see what you did there. :)
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Sounds like a linux user pissed into your cup of tea.
... it was hilarious.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
It took participants just 10 minutes to learn how to use the system before they were able to carry out tasks such as picking up potato chips or signing a document.
I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a quadriplegic for a moment, and I'm sure I have no conception of what it must be like; still, I can't help but wonder if there's some other thing I would do 1st with a suddenly available working arm.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
For whoever wonders how much "low cost" is, here is TFA excerpt:
Soekadar said the system could be brought to market within two years at a cost of between 5,000 and 10,000 euros ($5,370 to $10,740), depending on functionality.
Sounds handy ;-)
One day when we lost a limb or paralyzed from the waist down, this will be the best technology we hope for to be able to walk once again.
The Encyclopedia Galactica defines a robot as "a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man."
The marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun to Be With."
No love on Slashdot for The I.T. Crowd?
Required reading for internet skeptics
This machine is not shown to be used with quadriplegic patients at all. Quadriplegia indicates the patient has lost all use of arms and legs.