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Honda has developed a gadget that they say could make walking easier for the elderly and others with weak leg muscles. The aptly named Walking Assist Device is a 2.7 kg motorised belt with hip sensors that gauge how much help the wearer will need. The motor then gives the wearer an appropriate boost, lengthening his or her stride enough to make walking easier on the legs.
A neurosurgery team at Osaka University is now installing brain-machine interfaces directly into patients' heads. They claim the invasive open-skull surgery allows control over robotic limbs with the mind more accurately. In fact, in trials with four test subjects, their method has more than 80% accuracy.
Japan-based Brother Industries has created a wearable, portable version of its retinal imaging display (RID) technology, which gives people the chance to see things Terminator-style. How is this different than other HUD glasses we've seen? The new RID prototype attaches to a basic set of spectacles and works by focusing light onto the retina, moving it at high speeds to generate images that look like they exist right in front of the user. Too bad the source box is freaking enormous.
This is a moth pupa with an implanted chip equipped with microelectrodes and fluidic paths. One day they could be the equivalent of R2-D2 for fighter pilots according to Dr Amit Lal, who works at DARPA integrating chips, sensors and nano-mechanical systems into insects to convert them into combat allies. Jump to see its final look and how it works.
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 9:15 AM on July 16, 2007
Thankfully, it isn't as embarrassing as it sounds.
When discussing the future of organised crime, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Chief Mick Keelty is clearly thinking seriously about what is in store for us in 'the future'. So he's not afraid to accept that criminals use serious tech faster than most of the community, and that in future this could move beyond online crime and into the realm of science-fiction. FTA:
"Our environmental scanning tells us that even with some of the cloning of human beings - not necessarily in Australia but in those countries that are going to allow it - you could have potentially a cloned part-person, part-robot," he said."You could (also) have technology acting at the direction of a human being, but the human being being distanced considerably from the actual crime scene."
Woah! When we start seeing headlines for cyborg bank heists, surely that's going to be the same era we start hearing about masked men sweeping out of the sky to save the day. Bring on Supes!
Top cop predicts robot crimewave. [The Age]
Not so long ago, we were all hot and bothered over Dean Kamen's new artificial arm planned for veterans who had lost a limb. But at the time all of our information was gleaned from a crappy audience camera filming the event.
In this newly available video—shot just this week—the man himself explains his motivations behind the device before showing a brief demonstration. It's still a tease...but this one has better lighting and we just can't get enough.
A Closer Look at Dean Kamen's Robotic Arm [boingboing]
Move over Dean Kamen. You might have the money you've made from the dozens upon dozens of Segways you've sold, but your budget can't compete with DARPA's, and they're in the bionic arm field too.
DARPA already has their first prototype done, and they say they're on track to "provide, by 2009, a mechanical arm that closely mimics the properties and sensory perception of a biological limb." It sounds pretty great, and I can't say having Dean Kamen and DARPA both working hard to create top-notch bionic arms is a bad thing. Click through to read DARPA's whole press release and a picture of the arm in action.
Do you have a refrigerator you need to move? An uncooperative roommate who won't get off the couch and get a job? A need to impress the guys down at the gym with your amazing lifting skills, no matter what? Well, good news, wussbag.
Starting next year in Japan, you'll be able to lease an exoskeleton (the HAL-5, to be precise) for about $590 a month. Originally designed to help the elderly and infirm walk around when they're too weak to do so themselves, it also works great for getting respect when formerly you got none, and, I assume, doing a totally badass version of the robot on the dance floor.
Japan Times [via Medgadget]
