cybernetics

Paralyzed woman moves robotic arm using thought alone

By implanting a 96-electrode sensor the size of a baby aspirin onto the surface of their brains, researchers have enabled two quadriplegic participants to use their thoughts alone to perform tasks with two types of robotic arms.

The BrainGate implant -- and the resulting Jedi mind tricks -- may be sort of anxiety-producing to some. But the smile on the face of the woman who hadn't been able to serve herself coffee in 15 years put a fine point on the progress the technology is affording.

"One of our participants was able to do something that, when all … Read more

Friday Poll: What's the next big thing in bionics?

This week we told you about a couple of breakthroughs in bionics, including a Luke Skywalker-like artificial hand controlled by the brain, and a bionic larynx that uses a speech synthesizer to let people who've had their voice boxes removed speak more realistically. Those are both awesome.

They also hint that we may be on the threshold of a new wave of bionic devices that will boost the quality of life for people around the world. But what's next? What bionic science will most wow us in coming years?

Vote in our poll, and be sure to leave … Read more

Man controls cybernetic hand with thoughts

European scientists have successfully built a brain-controlled bionic hand that could be used to kill or maim hundreds of humans in the coming robot versus humans' civil war. Or, far more admirably, allow amputees to feel hand sensations and manipulate their limb--via the brain--as if it were still there.

Pierpaolo Petruzziello--who lost his arm under the elbow in a car crash several years ago--has done just that, Italy's University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome announced Wednesday.

The biometric hand was developed at Pisa's Valdera Polo Sant'Anna School and surgically attached to Petruzziello's nervous system via electrodes implanted … Read more

Without GPS, hikers just walk in circles

I know there are many in the tech world who believe people just shouldn't be trusted. Or listened to. Or even believed.

So it may be heartening to these defenders of our cyberfuture that there is yet another piece of evidence suggesting people aren't quite as clever as they think they are.

The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics decided to test a very simple form of human judgment: the ability to know where you're going when you're hiking.

You see, many intrepid humans believe it is enough for them to follow the sun, the moon, … Read more