The real deal is that this needn't be confined only to people with disabilities. We all can use an extra limb or too. But, I think it will take a little more time to become such a sci-fi toy, after the urgent needs of disabled people are met..., but the size of the market if we look at this as applicable for everyone is huge.
Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
21–30 of 35 posts
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#22This is extremely impressive, what a beautiful piece of work. The smile on that lady's face says more than any number of facebook 'likes' or google +1's could ever do for me, that's a real and measurable quality of life improvement for a single person, this really makes a difference. The engineering on that arm is pretty heavy duty, I wonder what it weighs and how fast it could move and what kind of safeguards are bu…
They're using a Kuka DLR lightweight arm. It's a rather high-end piece of equipment. It's strong enough to do a pull-up, fast enough to catch a ball, and every joint incorporates a six-axis force-torque sensor. It's definitely strong enough to do damage. Of course, that just means that Kuka loaded it up with safety systems. The FT sensors let it know exactly how much force it's applying, and if they read too high a value the brakes slam on. I've never worked with those arms before, but I'd bet that there's a similar system completely in hardware. You'll also notice that the operator's left hand and the entire back half of the room are never seen; there are at least two emergency stop buttons there, probably more, and one of them is wired directly the arm's power supply.
Really, though, all that engineering is of secondary interest. That look on her face is exactly why I got into robotics. And we've only been at it for 15 years; imagine what we'll be able to do in another 15.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#23Disclaimer: I work in a similar lab (my adviser was advised by the senior author on the paper, who runs the lab) on a brain-machine interface project funded by DARPA. What makes this awesome from a scientific point of view: 1) 2-dimensional decoders, where an individual controls a mouse with their mind, have existed for a while. What makes this really cool is that there are actually quite a few degrees of freedom in…
Ah man, I sorry, but I have to rip in to you now... How the hell is this area of science NOT sexy? Are you kidding me? IMHO, this is the ultimate in science, interfacing the human being directly with technology. That is a "sexy" as it gets, its right up there with CERN and spacey stuff. Stockings and suspenders couldn't make this more sexy. And if that aint good enough for "us" then I merely have this to say, "think…
Parent is talking about the algos behind it. Yes, the result is interesting, but the backend is boilerplate.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#24Disclaimer: I work in a similar lab (my adviser was advised by the senior author on the paper, who runs the lab) on a brain-machine interface project funded by DARPA. What makes this awesome from a scientific point of view: 1) 2-dimensional decoders, where an individual controls a mouse with their mind, have existed for a while. What makes this really cool is that there are actually quite a few degrees of freedom in…
The feedback is something that a couple of friends of mine and I are working on.
There are a few things that we've talked about are:
1) Heat. Patches that can be placed on areas of your skin that will increase/decrease heat quickly as a way of giving forece-feedback. This was just something we talked about briefly, and I really don't know how workable it is. I don't know offhand of any materials that can rapidly go from hot to cold and back again.
2) Electrodes. This is difficult because skin conditions change. There is [from what we've looked at] a smallish envelope between "I can feel this" and "this is potentially dangerous". The envelope can change with skin conditions [and people]. I've built a little prototype that sits on my tongue and gives me feedback, but that is clunky, and something we'd like to avoid.
3) Vibration. The problem here is that it turns out that it's a bit tough to judge different levels of vibration. It ends up as an on/off sensation. What we've talked about is using different patters of on off, or a variable frequency of on-off. (Here is one of the motors walking through the different freqs. It sounds kindof funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_bGb2Xij8I&feature=youtu...)
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There is a ton of interest in this stuff, at least in my circle.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#25Disclaimer: I work in a similar lab (my adviser was advised by the senior author on the paper, who runs the lab) on a brain-machine interface project funded by DARPA. What makes this awesome from a scientific point of view: 1) 2-dimensional decoders, where an individual controls a mouse with their mind, have existed for a while. What makes this really cool is that there are actually quite a few degrees of freedom in…
No doubt this is amazing. But a question strikes me... why is a military organisation funding this research? By their very nature, are they not in the business of disabling enemies (a.k.a people)?
Just strikes me as odd but I can see the potential of weaponizing this technology.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#26If you're interested in helping out with the next stage of this research and you know someone with limited or no ability to use both hands who might also be interested, please visit http://www.braingate2.org/clinicalTrials.asp and let them know.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#27Disclaimer: I work in a similar lab (my adviser was advised by the senior author on the paper, who runs the lab) on a brain-machine interface project funded by DARPA. What makes this awesome from a scientific point of view: 1) 2-dimensional decoders, where an individual controls a mouse with their mind, have existed for a while. What makes this really cool is that there are actually quite a few degrees of freedom in…
No doubt this is amazing. But a question strikes me... why is a military organisation funding this research? By their very nature, are they not in the business of disabling enemies (a.k.a people)? Just strikes me as odd but I can see the potential of weaponizing this technology.
Probably so they can extend the service life of their own soldiers.
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#28Disclaimer: I work in a similar lab (my adviser was advised by the senior author on the paper, who runs the lab) on a brain-machine interface project funded by DARPA. What makes this awesome from a scientific point of view: 1) 2-dimensional decoders, where an individual controls a mouse with their mind, have existed for a while. What makes this really cool is that there are actually quite a few degrees of freedom in…
No doubt this is amazing. But a question strikes me... why is a military organisation funding this research? By their very nature, are they not in the business of disabling enemies (a.k.a people)? Just strikes me as odd but I can see the potential of weaponizing this technology.
The military needs to improve the quality of life of its own disabled veterans
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#29This is an area where hackers can really make an impact. We tend to forget how necessary movement and control is for our daily routines. There are people out there who even lack the ability to turn on|off the TV. A little hacking with an arduino, and some buttons will make it possible for them. In hackaday.com, one consistently sees hacks that are for the disabled. Special game controllers for people missing an arm,…
> This is an area where hackers can really make an impact. One of my friends has coauthored several papers with some of the BrainGate folks. We spent a road trip a couple years ago discussing his research. One thing that jumped out is how similar many of the tools used in this field are to those in a startup. In particular, many big-data analysis tools and techniques that can be developed, optimized, and funded withi…
Yes, good point.
Once the photo sharing app market dries up, people will have to look into other areas. I know that in the next ten years we will have startups (even 1-2 person teams) building much more than simple web apps. Innovation will slowly seep to other areas.
(And thus, Jeff, that is why people need to learn how to program)
Re: Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think grantgrant has a point. I wonder what it's like to use an arm like that - she seems to be focusing hard on thinking "up" "down" "left" "twist" but as this stuff gets more powerful, how do you separate the signal from the noise? I have many thoughts bouncing around my head, but somehow my brain knows not to act on them.
The brain is a "parallel processor" in that distinct regions are responsible for different tasks. These arrays are recording from the primary motor area (M1) which directly controls output muscles. While this does require conscious control right now, it's not the case that irrelevant thoughts are likely to significantly alter the control signals sent to the arm.
Probably less, since you don't have to worry about, say, adrenaline dampening the negative feedback loops between brain and muscles.