Hybrid Assistive Limb is a lifestyle changer

Its not quite the Six Million Dollar Man, but we’re getting there.

There is a new exoskeleton called the
Hybrid Assistive Limb,
or HAL, which uses censors on the skin connected to electric motors to increase the user’s strength tenfold.

It works by using sensors applied to the skin that detect the faint electrical currents sent by the brain through the nervous system when it commands a particular activity. These sensors are connected to a computer that interprets the signal and then sends its own command to electric leg and arm braces. Upon detection of the appropriate electrical nerve signal, HAL moves a split-second before the leg muscle itself.

The exoskeleton is being marketed and leased as a rehabilitation tool. That’s a great start, but the ability to add strength times ten to limbs which are not usually cabable of normal power just screams out to me that this would be a lifestyle changer to many. Just think about the difference this can make to people with limited motor strength or to people who are weakened by aging. I’d bet they would think this product was worth six million dollars.

One question I might have concerns the HAL's use with people who have central nervous disorders. Being it relies on nerve impulses, I would think that this might preclude its use for that population. However, despite that one holdback, HAL still fits a broad category of people who would probably find it a great difference maker in their lives.

MyVisionTest.com is rich resource; News about Swiss bionic eye implant

I just learned about a web site, which I want to share with you. It is of value as a rich visual impairment/blindness resource.


MyVisionTest.com
Is a web site that is useful for both its initial offering of a supplemental Amsler grid for patients who have been instructed by their eye doctor to monitor their vision at home, as well as for the wealth of news regarding vision, blindness, and on-going research relating to these subjects.

I’m finding news articles here related to blindness that I’ve not found elsewhere. I’m definitely bookmarking this site!

One interesting news story I found on the site was that
A patient in Switzerland has received a bionic eye implant.

The patient in the article received an Argus II implant, which will remain in place for approximately three years.
The device uses technology, which was only being inaugurated when I wrote a research paper for an undergrad writing class several years ago. It involves a camera mounted on a pair of eyeglasses that takes in the images, and then sends them to a processor on a belt clip, which then sends them back to the eyeglasses where a receiver sends them to electrodes for subsequent processing in the brain.

Projections are that future recipients will enjoy increased refinements in technology as well in their vision beyond the shape, object, and place recognition currently available.


This event was news to me, as I’ve been aware of the research being done, but not that any of these implants had actually been performed. Not only has this been done in Switzerland, but also the article notes there have already been ten other similar procedures done globally.

Technological advances are bringing man and machine much closer together

There seems to be a recent convergence of information about man and machines coming together.

I first read this interesting BBC article about Ray Kurzweil, the grandfather of optical character recognition as well as oft-cited inventor and futurist, predicting that
machines will match man by 2029.

In the article, Kurzweil predicts that machines will reach artificial intelligence on the same level as humans just over 20 years from now. He believes that humans will have tiny robots implanted into their brains to achieve higher levels of intelligence.

From the article:
“The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.”
Kurzweil stated, "We're already a human machine civilisation; we use our technology to expand our physical and mental horizons and this will be a further extension of that."


That was interesting enough, but then this morning, I was watching one of the morning news programs and they had an expert discuss how the innovations that Kurzweil spoke of might come about. He cited three specific projects that are not new, but are definitely continuing, and showing great promise to fulfill Kurzweil’s predictions.

* The bionic eye project at Stanford University.
In this meeting of the minds,
Ophthalmologists and physicists teamed up to create artificial vision.
The work appears promising, using cameras to send visual images to the brain with clarity that was Sufficient enough so that patients have the potential to see with a visual acuity of 20/80.

* Matt Nagel, a man who is quadraplegic and had an electronic array implanted into his brain so that he could
execute motor functions by thought process alone.

* Duke researchers who had a
monkey move a robot 7,000 miles away,
purely by mental commands.


Then, to complete my convergence trifecta of news about man and machines, I found a news alert this morning telling how the
Duke project has a future application in war situations.

Bob Dylan sang so many years ago, “The times, they are a-changing.” With the advances scientists are making in technology, it appears that so are we.

Bionic hand provides abilities not previously availble in a prosthetic

Like so many other things, technology continues to evolve. This evolution will eventually make more and more fictional artifacts into realities.

Take for instance, the fictional television show from three decades ago, that pitched the idea of a bionic man. That is getting to be more of a reality with each technological advance. The latest one being the
i-Limb Hand,
manufactured by Touch Bionics of Scotland.

The manufacturer claims that the I-Limb Hand is the first commercially available prosthetic hand in which individual motors controls each of the jointed fingers. This innovation allows the fingers to move independently and lets the user exercise a more natural grip. The control the user has will let the user do tasks which have been impossible with previous prosthetic hands, such as holding and turning a key or pointing a finger.

The new-found freedom the device provides is not cheap, though. The I-Limb Hand costs approximately $18,000, two times the cost of normal prosthetics.

Still, I believe that if I were in need of a prosthetic, I would want the model that would give me the most usability and would diligently work to find the funding to make a reality out of what had been previously only available in fiction.