More welcome news on this front. We can all see the future and it is
now obvious that we are likely closer than we think. When it gets
down to training, technical refinement begins to add to already
prepared capability and real progress speeds up.
It is also obvious that we can already build hardware to empower all
forms of such physical injury. That is great news.
This whole sector can expect to be a 'solved problem during the next
two decades and will largely include mostly full regeneration. While
this is happening artificial hardware is welcome.
Military applications also come to mind.
Paralyzed Patient
Thinks 'Walk,' and Then Walks
MAR 8, 2013 03:16 PM
ET // BY JESSE EMSPAK
Thousands of people
every year suffer spinal cord injuries and lose their ability to
walk. An brain-controlled exoskeleton that moves a patient’s legs
could be one way to get some patients out of wheelchairs.
A multinational
consortium led by Belgian company Space Applications Services has
designed the Mindwalker, which is a frame — the exoskeleton —
that attaches to the torso and legs and moves them as the wearer
thinks about it.
NEWS: Steer a Ship
with Your Brain
Unlike a bionic limb,
the exoskeleton doesn’t need to be linked with electrodes inside
the body. Instead, it uses a simple cap that reads electrical
signals from the brain. When the wearer thinks of moving, a certain
pattern appears, which is interpreted by a computer as a signal to
move.
The Mindwalker design
uses a “dry” cap, which doesn’t need special gels to boost
electrical conductivity, so it is much more convenient to use than
“wet” caps often used to study brain activity.
This concept is a bit
different from the Ekso system, which works by registering shifts in
weight, or the powered exoskeletons built for military use such as
the Human Universal Load Carrier, which assist movement in people who
have full use of their limbs. And unlike bionic limb designs, the
Mindwalker bypasses the spinal cord and nerves — there’s no need
for attaching electrodes inside the body.
One challenge has been
getting clean signals from the brain and using them to refine the
gait of the device. Most walking robots are designed with a gait that
doesn’t bear much resemblance to a human. And typically, robotic
legs aren’t good at re-balancing if pushed.
Mindwalker’s
software allows it to cope with that, somewhat, but Michel Ilzkovitz,
systems and ground segment engineering Manager at Space Applicatons,
told Discovery News that although able-bodied people can balance,
people with spinal cord injuries will still need a set of crutches.
NEWS: Touchy-Feely
Bionic Hand Closer to Reality
It’s also built to
be lighter, and thus easier to move. It’s still heavy, at 70
pounds, but that’s a lot lighter than many early designs.
It also requires
training. The cap is looking for a certain set of signals, but they
are hard to pick up amid the noise, and they differ slightly between
people. Mindwalker wearers must learn how to make their brains give a
“clean” signal, so they need to practice using it in a
virtual-reality setting.
The Mindwalker has
been tested with able-bodied users, and through May of this year
volunteers with spinal cord injuries will try it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment