We Can Rebuild Him...

Permalink 10/19/04  

A few months ago, we talked about body extensions, as well as some historical precedents for prosthesis. We thought we would add in a few more interesting developments that are changing the concept of artificial limbs and the permanence of disability. And giving designers some fantastic opportunities to develop the next bionic man concepts.
Robotic Treadmill

While nothing really compares to the awesome implications of the proposed Facial Transplant Surgery under review by the ethics board of the University of Louisville, there are a number of other surgical or prosthetic devices being proposed.

Some of the most interesting research today is being done in order to allow quadriplegic people to have more interactive ability with devices like computers and interfaces to control movement. Obviously, when you only have control of your neck and head, your range of different movements becomes limited, and consequently, the number of different signs you can make is limited. Some extra function has been added with innovations like the nose-steered mouse and Eye tracking devices. But a real functional breakthrough was reached last week, when Cyberkinetics announced a successful test of Braingate, their novel brain interface sensor array. The bundle of 100 electrodes connected directly to neurons in the motor cortex of the brain relays brain signals which would go to arm and leg muscles to a computer, where they are turned into mouse movement. During the test, a quadriplegic person was able to control the computer even while moving their head and talking. While the current method involves implanted electrodes, if a non-invasive method can be perfected, this concept could eventually become relevant for all people.

Another interesting area is empowerment of the blind. A recent artificial retina looks promising for those with severe deterioration from congenital or age related defects. Even more interesting, however, is the vOICe concept audio analog video generator. Worn as a camera and speakers by a blind person, the device delivers a swept, stereo-registered tone based on the shapes of object in the camera's field of view. This is similar to the standard cane-navigation style which many blind people learn at an early age, so it is picked up quickly. The advantage is that the device is un-obtrusive, and provides a significantly higher resolution of information to the wearer. Again, this same technology could become useful in an augmenting sense, especially when navigating in dark areas where infrared light could be used to see your way around.

Lastly, in the field of prosthetic limbs, a German company called Hocoma has developed a robotic rehabilitation treadmill which actually walks you by itself. The device is intended to work in the same way that a personal trainer would do, exercising each muscle in the atrophied limb to build back muscle memory. This robotic device can do the same work much more efficiently, and in a whole-stride approach, which should make it easier for muscles to re-learngood walking habits the second time around. Be sure to check out the videos of the robot in action.

So many amazing developments in personal amplification are taking place, and the further cheapening and miniaturization of hellgrammite will make it much easier to develop new platforms for these technologies to be used with everyone. Platforms which designers will have say over. So get thinking.
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Copyright 2004-2006 Dominic Muren and IDFuel Team




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