To be able to fix the fine structure of damaged neural networks using transplanted stem cells would require a way to guide the stem cells to line up in a desired way. Researchers from University of California, Davis and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have discovered that they can use electric current to point to […]
Tag Archive for Rehab
Microsoft Seeing AI App for Blind People Describes The World Around
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Microsoft has released an iPhone app for blind people and those with significantly decreased vision. Seeing AI, as the app is called, does its magic when the user points the smartphone’s camera at something and it reads out what it’s seeing. For example, pointing it at a person, it tries to identify if it’s someone […]
Low Cost Glove Translates Sign Language, May Be Used to Practice Surgery in Virtual Reality
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At the University of California San Diego engineers have developed a low-cost electronic glove capable of understanding sign language. A user simply puts it on and can sign away, with the glove wirelessly transmitting what it’s interpreting to another device to be read out or for the words to appear on a screen. The cost […]
Million Electrode Array for Brain Interfaces Is Under Development
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Researchers at Columbia University are working on substantially improving the abilities of brain-computer interfaces by creating a high density electrode array that can stimulate and read the brain at high precision. The research is part of DARPA’s Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) project that is working on all the different piece (Read more...)
Optical Fiber for Movement-Free Activation of Select Neurons in Brain
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Researchers from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Lecce, Italy and Harvard Medical School created a probe designed for optogenetic applications. Optogenetics is a recently developed technique that allows scientists to selectively activate neurons within the brain, and this technology may one day be used as a therapeutic tool to treat a varie (Read more...)
Penclic R2 Ergonomic Mouse Review: Comfortable, but Is It Enough?
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Using computer mice more than 20 hours per week is associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. Classic computer mice force users into a pronated forearm position, placing stress on the nerves of the carpal tunnel (a sheath in the wrist through which tendons and nerves pass through). The PenClic R2 is an unconventional mouse that aims to […] (Read more...)
Closed Loop System Reads Brain Activity to Activate Neurostimulator Only When Needed
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At the University of Washington researchers have been focusing on drastically improving the longevity and performance of deep brain stimulators for people suffering from essential tremor. These devices, implanted like pacemakers with electrode leads stretching up into the brain, run on internal batteries. The devices, not knowing when to quiet the (Read more...)
Fingertip Simulator Models Nerve Activity to Introduce Sense of Touch to Prostheses
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At the University of Chicago neuro researchers are working on studying how the nerves in a person’s fingertips communicate with the brain to relay tactile sensations. They hope their understanding will lead to technologies that enable the sense of touch in prosthetic devices and to that end they’ve built a simulator that replicates the (Read more...)
New Way to Optimize Exoskeletons Helps to Drastically Improve Their Efficiency
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Exoskeletons that help people with mobility issues have been in development for quite some time now and some even been approved by the FDA for at-home use. Though there’s already a great deal of technology built into these types of devices, they remain clunky, imperfect, and produce a gait that resembles that of robots in old […]
Eye Controlled Robot Lets Woman with MS Play Chess with Real Pieces
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ABB Group, a large Swedish-Swiss firm specializing in industrial robotics, and Irisbond, a company developing eye tracking software from the Basque region of Spain, have teamed up to create, as a conceptual demonstration, an eye controlled robotic hand that helps paralyzed people play chess. The person using it simply looks at the chess board on [& (Read more...)
New Implant and Muscle Grafting Technique to Give Prosthetic Users a Sense of Feeling and Control
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The way surgical amputations are performed has not changed much in decades, while there has been a great deal of progress in prosthetic technologies, interfaces, and rehabilitation. One modern problem that surgical amputations fail to address is the inability of neural electrodes to sense signals because the nerves are simply cut and neuromas form (Read more...)
Ipsihand, a Stroke Rehab Device That Deduces Intention Directly from Brain
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Many post stroke patients end up with an upper extremity that doesn’t cooperate, requiring the brain to relearn how to use it. This can be a difficult process often requiring a lot of mental stamina, so there’s a lot of efforts underway to help improve the speed and quality of recovery. At Washington University in St. Louis [& (Read more...)
WheelAir Helps Keep Wheelchair Users’ Back Cool and Comfy
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Being in a wheelchair for long periods at a time can be difficult on the body in a number of ways. One issue, particularly common in the summer, is the back not receiving enough ventilation. This prevents cooling of the back, creates the buildup of sweat, and discomfort. A new device is now on KickStarter […]
Smart Shoe Insoles Pair With Smartphone App to Provide Gait Info on Every Step
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A proper running technique focusing on every step can help an athlete increase efficiency while preventing injury. Specifically, how the foot strikes the ground can affect performance, comfort, and even pain following an exercise routine. Engineers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed an electronic insole that is able to sense the (Read more...)
Grasp Feedback Technology to Help Prosthetic Users Feel What They’re Holding
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Prosthetic devices of the future, in order to be highly functional and easy to use, will have to incorporate sensors that can relay to the user the pressure of a hand grasp and what the texture of a touched object is like. Researchers from Rice University in Texas and University of Pisa in Italy have […]
Manual Standing Wheelchair Lets Users Control It Whether Sitting or Upright
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The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, recently renamed to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, has developed a new wheelchair that allows its users to switch between a sitting and standing positions while retaining the ability to move and steer the chair in any direction. The fully mechanical device uses bicycle chains to transfer power from a tank tread-li (Read more...)
EduExo Educational Exoskeleton Robotics Kit Now on Kickstarter
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Exoskeletons are an emerging field of engineering that is already allowing thousands of disabled people to regain arm movement and even paralyzed people to walk upright. To help promote the development of new devices and get people excited about exoskeletons, an educational kit is being promoted through a Kickstart funding campaign. The EduExo kit (Read more...)
Smart Tactile Touchpad Helps Visually Impaired People Better Understand Their Surroundings (Video)
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At École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, engineers have developed a novel touchpad that can represent various objects, idea, and locations to help visually impaired people to learn, navigate, and interact with the world. As part of the BlindPAD project, the device has a bunch of knobs that can pop up o (Read more...)
Tecla-e Wireless Lets People with Limited Mobility Control Variety of Digital Devices
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Komodo OpenLab, a company based in Toronto, Canada, released a new device that lets severely paralyzed people operate Android and iOS tablets and smartphones, as well as other devices, using standard accessibility tools such as sip and puff controllers, buttons, and switches. The new Tecla-e provides wireless connectivity with the devices it contro (Read more...)
Indi Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device for Non-Verbal People
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Tobii Dynavox, a Swedish company that focuses on building devices that help people with various communication issues to get their voices out. Their new Indi device is a touchscreen tablet targeted for non-verbal communicators, designed to make it easier to talk with those around using pictures that are turned into sentences. Though most users will (Read more...)