“Technologies for Active Aging offers novel answers to a range of aging issues, from safety and mobility to cognition and continence. Written for the non-technical reader, the book examines the potential of information and communicative technologies such as pervasive computing, smart environments, and robotics to enhance seniors’ quality of life and encourage independent living, better care and self-care, and social participation.” We can’t give a recommendation as we have not read it, but it is edited by two respected people in the field: Andrew Sixsmith of Simon Fraser University, and Gloria Gutman of the Gerontology Research Centre, both based in... Continue Reading
Search Results for darpa robotics
‘Warrior Web’ becoming a ‘for realsie thing’
Interesting introduction in this Armed with Science article from the US Department of Defense describing DARPA’s ‘Warrior Web’ or ‘mech suit’ that is a soft, lightweight exoskeleton designed to help the average warrior humping 100-lb. equipment loads in rough terrain. In the Army, ‘for realsie’ means advanced prototype testing, this by the Army Research Laboratory Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL HRED, another one of those acronyms) in a five-month series of tests to evaluate multiple prototypes. Real progress and adoption here will have knock-on effects for advancing civilian development of assistance devices for the disabled and elderly. Includes 0:17... Continue Reading
Sensory feedback adds to prosthetics and situational awareness
There have been a number of prosthetics developed in recent years that directly connect with nerves, but their drawbacks have included deterioration of the nerve-prosthetic connection over time and lack of reliability in acting like a natural limb. With over 2,000 American military personnel suffering major amputations since 2000, the US Department of Defense’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is working to advance better nerve-connected prosthetics through the RE-NET–Reliable Neural-Interface Technology–program. DARPA uses nerve/muscle interfaces to give amputees feedback and improve control (Gizmag) For the sight-impaired, the Russian company Oriense is extending its technology that assists robots to avoid... Continue Reading
Robots go squishy, exoskeletons do not, and here’s your drink
Gizmag profiles another soft robot, this out of University of California Berkeley with a hydrogel/graphene layer that causes it to flex when exposed to light. A natural to combine with the Harvard/Wyss/DARPA chameleon [TTA 23 Aug 12] or, according to the article, drug delivery and tissue engineering. 0:36 video demos the gel in a ‘hand’ flipping its ‘fingers’ by laser light. Soft robots could benefit from new light-controlled hydrogel Honda, one of the many companies developing exoskeletons to assist movement, is the first to lease 100 of them to 50 hospitals in Japan for testing. After 14 years of development,... Continue Reading
(Holiday) Weekend reading: McKinsey’s guide to 12 disruptive technologies
The McKinsey & Company consultants have compiled two lengthy PDFs (one long executive summary and a very long full study), plus a podcast by one of their researchers, on what they see are 12 core disruptors which will be familiar to most of our readers. None are labeled ‘healthcare’ but seven of the 12 fit right into any tech in the field: mobile internet, the ‘internet of things’, advanced robotics, automation of knowledge work, cloud computing, next-gen genomics and 3D printing. Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy (downloads in article)... Continue Reading
The Friday robo-alert: Five ways robots are invading hospitals
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ri-man.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Having watched the delightful ‘Forbidden Planet’ (1956) on Turner Classic Movies last night, marking the debut of the robot paragon Robby the Robot, this overview of hospital robotics from VentureBeat is on point. No Robbies here (despite our picture, this article does not cover robots that lift or design dresses with options of diamonds, emeralds or star sapphires) but does highlight: Germ and infection reduction (the ultraviolet Xenex) Remote consult robots (iRobot’s RP-VITA, now FDA approved) Prosthetics (BioOM prosthetic ankle) Surgical robots Therapeutic robots for the elderly (PARO, which is a ‘1.0’) Previously in TTA: RP-VITA’s FDA... Continue Reading
An ‘Office of mHealth’ a solution for FDA gridlock? (US)
...In its good intentions to speed mHealth approvals by creating a framework plus monetary incentives, it is not powerful or independent enough to slice through or bypass various turfs. What would be revolutionary is simplification. Why not an independent unit that draws from FDA, FCC and HHS, but has priority and license to cut through red tape? But that would require major giving up of ground–and with this Federal Government, that ain’t gonna happen. Add to it that the most innovative work–and usage– is being done at DOD (DARPA, T2) and the VA, and the alphabet soup becomes goulash. Wall... Continue Reading
Microgripping and touching robots
...this week, piezotronic transistors. Thousands of them arrayed, and designed to give robots–and touchscreens–that extra and almost human edge in touch sensitivity. The transistors in thin, flat material can sense changes in their own polarity when pressure is applied due to their zinc oxide composition. Initial use will probably be in touchscreens, but the Georgia Tech project’s supporters–the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Air Force (USAF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences–are also considering its use in prosthetic skin or limbs. Gizmag.... Continue Reading
‘Tactile helmet’ for rescuers may assist vision impaired (UK)
Here’s where a partner and a little seed capital could go a long way–no FDA or CE needed. Researchers at the University of Sheffield’s Sheffield Centre for Robotics (SCentRo) have developed a variation on a firefighter’s helmet containing ultrasound sensors that detect the distances between the helmet and nearby walls. When a possible obstacle is ‘sensed’, a vibration pad directionally signals the wearer. For firefighters, this is obviously useful in smoke-filled areas but a lightweight version could be used by vision impaired people as a guidance aid. After two years of research and testing, Sheffield now needs a commercial partner... Continue Reading
TBI drug in potential trial with former NFL players’ association
...brain injury. While this announcement is perhaps more than it seems–a Phase I clinical trial is ‘early days’, to make it through all four phases (I-IV) may take a decade, and now the developer is switching around the treatment condition–the drug itself has received support from DARPA and NIH which are both closely concerned with TBI. In addition, working with the NFLAA will help Neuralstem find subjects for the trials. PR Newswire via Baltimore Business Journal Previously in TTA on TBI and the NFL: Further sad confirmation of CTE, Brain injury research study, NFL donates $30 million to NIH, Combating... Continue Reading
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