Artificial Muscles for Humans and Their Robots

by Bruce Brown | July 11, 2019 | Enabling Tech

The concept of artificial muscles is intriguing. Whether the purpose of lab-sourced musculature is greater strength or enhanced mobility for humans or robots, the idea is easy to grasp and the prospects are inspiring. We’ve written about researchers at the...

Interface Supports Many Adaptive Controls [video]

by Bruce Brown | July 9, 2019 | Enabling Tech

We’ve written about myriad technologies developed to assist people with upper or lower body impairments. Cyberdyne’s Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exoskeleton senses minute motion signals on the skin to determine the wearer’s intention. Seoul National...

AR and AI Detect Brain Pain

by Bruce Brown | July 2, 2019 | Enabling Tech

Parents know the frustration and sense of helplessness when an infant in pain lacks the language skills to explain where it hurts. University of Michigan researchers are developing technology that uses neuroimaging, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence...

Smart Prosthetic Uses AI to Learn Faster

by Alfred Poor | June 27, 2019 | Enabling Tech

Captain Hook made prosthetic hands famous, but his was not capable of movement and had limited functionality. Today, low-cost movable prosthetic hands are fabricated quickly and inexpensively using 3D printing technology. And we now have powered prosthetic hands, but...

“Brain on a Chip” to Speed Drug Research [video]

by Bruce Brown | June 6, 2019 | Enabling Tech

Testing medical technologies, techniques, and treatments on humans present moral, ethical, and legal issues, but without clinical proof, new tech won’t make it out of the development stage. In 2017, we wrote about a Nordis and University of Washington study of...

3D-Printed Models Help Surgeons Plan

by Bruce Brown | June 3, 2019 | Enabling Tech

In the summer of 1985, Alfred Poor and I tested and reviewed the first HP LaserJet printer for the IBM PC. I’m sure neither of us suspected that 34 years later – or ever – we’d write about HP printers turning out 3D color renderings of human...