Cyabathlon: Sporting Event For People With Disabilities

There is a lot going on in the assistive technology world - newer and exciting advancements are happening all the time. However, the purpose of assistive technology is not just to provide suitable accommodations and make life easier for people with disabilities but also to take things to the next level - make them competitive; help them become true sportsmen.

To bring that philosophy to reality, Cybathlon, a championship for people with disabilities, will take place in Zurich on 8 October 2016. The event is open to everyone who wear prosthetic limbs; use exoskeletons, powered wheelchairs or brain interfaces. The people competing can either use commercially available products or prototypes made by individuals or research labs. There would be two medals for each event - one for the "pilot" (the person driving or using the device) and the other for the manufacturer of said device.



 Pilots will be participating in the following disciplines:

• Arm Prosthetic Race: Amputees wearing prosthetic upper arm limbs will be required to complete two hand tasks as quickly as possible.
• Brain Computer Interface Race: Pilots will wear a brain interface that will be used to control their avatar in a horse race or car race game.
• FES Bike Race: Pilots with complete spinal cord injuries will be given Functional Electrical Simulation devices which will enable them to pedal on a circular track.
• Leg Prosthetics Race: Pilots with lower limb prosthetics will be competing in a race with tasks and hurdles.
• Powered Exoskeleton Race: Pilots wearing exoskeleton will be walking in a circuit with various tasks, elements and hurdles.
• Powered Wheelchair Race: Similar to the Exoskeleton Race, pilots who are on powered wheelchair will be steering their wheelchairs along a particular course with various obstacles.

As an example, here is what the Leg Prosthetic Race circuit looks like (click to enlarge):

The Cybathlon is not just for promoting competitiveness among people with disabilities - there are some very noble aspirations attached to it. First and foremost, to keep encouraging companies and research labs to produce cutting edge assistive technology devices. Second, to make the common public aware of all the challenges and opportunities that assistive technology provides, and last, but not the least, to enable pilots to compete in various races!

This is a unique way to bring excitement into the assistive technology world and to everyone involved in this area. Keep an eye on this event. I will post again about Cybathlon as more information becomes available!

Website: Cybathlon

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$100 3D Printed Prosthetic Limb

3D printers are all the rage these days. From children's drawings to a working gun (GASP!), there is practically nothing impossible to print using one of these.

Mick Ebeling, CEO of Not Impossible Labs decided to do something when he read about 14 year old boy Daniel losing his arm in a bomb blast in war torn Sudan. Mick landed in Sudan with a few laptops and 3D printers, with the sole objective of making Daniel a limb.

Daniel was located in a refugee camp in Yida, South Sudan, and was given his first "version 1" limb by Mick. The limb took around $100 in raw materials and the 3d printer was able to print it out in just six hours. For the first time in two years, Daniel was able to feed himself (he had chocolate!). The video below show him doing daily activities like using a touch screen computer and throwing a ball. From what is shown, it looks like adapting to the new limb is fairly quick.

Before leaving Sudan, Mick set up a lab so the locals could print artificial limbs themselves.

Version 1 of the limb does come with some limitations. It cannot be used to lift heavy weights, and to use utensils, additional accessory is required. But still, the levels of  independence and confidence they bring to the person wearing them are enormous. Mick has made the project open source so anyone could work on it and keep improving version 1. The vision here is to create a global campaign that helps amputees from around the world achieve independence with a product that is inexpensive yet reliable. Version 1 can help someone get adjusted to artificial limb quickly - If someone needs something more robust, they can perhaps upgrade to other options.

Source: Inhabitat
More here: Not Impossible Labs


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I-Limb Ultra: Prosthetic Hand Controlled By iPhone App

Someone once sad �there�s an app for that,� and they weren�t wrong! In today�s society, everyday life is being made easier by apps on smart phones which can do anything from letting us check our bank balance on the move to helping us avoid the traffic on the school run. But the category that has shown the biggest boom in downloads are the medical apps. These range from apps that can help patients to control their long term illnesses, to apps that can allow doctors to visualise their patient�s x-ray radiographs on the move. 

One app that has made a big difference to patient�s lives is the iBGStar Diabetes Manager, and other
apps like it. They are used by diabetic patients to measure their blood sugar levels and keep track of previous reading to ensure they have good control over their condition. This is not only easier for the patient than the old �diary� method of recording their blood sugars, but it can help their doctors to see how treatment is working for their patient and whether it needs to be changed.

The award for the most innovative and life changing app must go to the i-Limb Ultra from Touch Bionics: the app is connected to a bionic prosthetic hand via Bluetooth and users can select different �grips� for any specific tasks they need to do. Sounds like something out of a movie, right? That�s what 16 year old Patrick Kane thought when he was fitted with the bionic hand. He lost his
hand as a baby due to meningococcal septicaemia, but because of this revolutionary new device he is able to live a normal life again, something that we often take for granted. The hand allows Patrick to carry out movements that are so precise they have not been possible with a normal prosthetic in the past: he can now hold a glass, pick up a piece of paper and tie his shoelaces with the touch of a button on his iPhone.

The limb can be controlled by electrical signals in muscles as well as by the iPhone, but this does take some practice to master as Patrick has already learned: "Controlling the hand feels very natural, although it does take a bit longer to learn how to use the automatic grips and gestures, so it was very useful to be able to work with the Touch Bionics therapist on these skills."

This innovation is a huge step for people like Patrick. At the moment the limb is still very expensive, between �30,000 and �80,000, but this technology means that in the not so distant future people that have lost a limb will be able to have the same quality of life as those who haven�t been so unlucky.

You can read the full article here.

This article was written by Niqui Stubbs, a 4^th year medical student with a love of gadgets and technology. She has worked with people who have lost a limb and knows the huge impact a bionic limb like this can have on someone�s life.

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Bebionic3: Prosthetic Arm For Daily Use

In the last year or so, we have seen quite a few prosthetic limbs in the market that are just remarkable in their own way - from helping people pick up things to offering touch and feel. Rapid developments in this area only go to show that people are actually accepting prosthetic limbs as a good substitute for a real limb.

Nigel Ackland, who lost his arm in an accident six years ago, was fitted with the Bebionic3 just last November, and already he can use the arm so seamlessly and flawlessly to perform daily chores - from tying shoelaces to making an omelette.

I think the Bebionic3 is the only prosthetic arm (as far as I know) that comes with its own silicone skin to give it a natural appearance. The hand also comes with its own software that can be monitored and configured wirelessly. Make sure to check out the website (source link) to learn (a lot) more about the gripping mechanisms, components it is made of, and all the technical information.

Nigel Ackland, everyone.


Source: Bebionic.com via Gizmodo

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Bionic Hand That Offers Touch And Feel Real Time

The last few years have seen a tremendous amount of progress when it comes to prosthetics. However, one limitation of these prosthetic limbs (if it is one) is the lack of sensation - clinching an object does not invoke a sense of touch since the limb is not connected to the nervous system.

Recently, scientists at The �cole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne and Project Time have developed a new bionic hand that has sensors on the fingertips and connects to the nervous system of the amputee by implanting electrodes directly in two important nerves - median and ulnar, and deliver signals directly, thus enabling the person to feel the touch. Essentially, the limb is controlled by thought as well as receives touch signals from the hand sensors.

Feeling the touch/sensory signals is essential because the more sensory signals the amputee gets, the more likely the patient will fully accept and appreciate the limb.

The scientists are constantly improving and refining the interface for this limb and if all goes well, a full working model will be ready for testing in two years.

Source: The Independent, Project Time, Gizmodo, Engadget
Images source: Engadget, The Independent

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Controlling A Prosthetic Arm With Thought

Image source: BBC

What we used to see a few years ago in movies is turning into reality. Controlling objects with just your thought? Who would have ever thought?

Jan Scheurmann, a 53 year old quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the neck down, recently managed to control a prosthetic arm with her mind to grasp and move objects with ease.

Two sensors were implanted in her brain that pick up electrical signals from around 200 individual brain cells, which later translate into commands that are used to move the arm and grab objects. The co-ordination, skill and speed she achieved only after 14 weeks of training (she was picking up objects on the second day!!) was almost similar to that of an able bodied person.

Image source: BBC

The next plan is to attach the prosthetic arm to Jen's wheelchair so that she could use it on a daily basis. There have been attempts to give sensation to the prosthetic arm as well so that Jen could feel the sense of touch.

This development is huge for people with spinal cord injuries, amputees, and quadriplegics. We saw something similar earlier this year, and looking at the progress, we should see a lot more action in this area in the coming years!

Hit the source links to read more about this in detail.

Source: BBC, The Lancet via Gizmodo

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Human Support Robot: Toyota's Personal Assistant for People With Disabilities

Toyota recently announced a new personal robot that has been designed to be an assistant of sorts for people with disabilities, essentially helping them live more independently.

The Human Support Robot (HSR) can be controlled using any tablet like device. The tablet can also be placed on top of HSR which would allow communication between the robot's owner and other people (caregivers) using Skype or other similar communication tools. HSR is capable of picking things up from the floor/atop tables/counters, opening & closing curtains, and fetching things for the owner, which may not be easy tasks for elderly or disabled people.

Toyota has been extensively testing HSR since 2011 and constantly getting feedback from patients. From the looks of it, HSR has a very good chance of becoming a real consumer product in a couple of years. Toyota would be demonstrating HSR from 26 - 28 September at Tokyo Big Sight as part of the "bleeding edge development of health care equipment" project.

Source: Gizmag.com via The Verge
Images source: Gizmag.com

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Paralyzed Woman Steers Robotic Arms With Mind And Sips Coffee

Once there was a time when being paralyzed was a death sentence, however this may no longer be the truth. Recent breakthroughs in robotic and neural interface technology have opened a doorway for those once paralyzed. A paralyzed women name Cathy is a prime example of how modern technology is making what was once though Impossible, possible.

It starts with a simple computer chip that is inserted and planted into the brain of a paralyzed person. The chip is stocked full of software and computer recognized algorithms that have been programmed to interpret neural waves and respond accordingly. The instructions are then sent to a robotic arm that interprets the commands and acts it out. In recent trials the brain-controlled robotic arm lifted and moved a glass of water into a paralyzed women's reach so that she could sip from it, something she has been unable to do on her own for the past fifteen years.

Many tests of similar nature have been done on lab animals and have proven successful, however, this is the first time a lab trial with a human has resulted in success in real time space. Previously lab trials have been successful in computing thoughts into moving a computer cursor, however with this breakthrough all past achievements pale in comparison. However the company behind this amazing breakthrough, BrainGate, has advised it will be some time before this technology makes it outside the lab.

In the current design the computer sensor is attached to a mini-sized computer that is connected with a mess of wires. Making the system wireless is the team�s first long term goal. The research team hopes that within a decade the BrainGate device will be available for everyone with a disability at a price that will be affordable. They are also in the works of bringing this functionality to prosthetic limbs in the same time frame.

Here is a video of Cathy moving steering a robotic arm: 

The movements of the device are still clunky and not efficient enough to be used outside of the lab. However, the main goal of the test was to use the software and brain-chip in partnership so that they would work in real time. With the breakthrough of this success it has catapulted the time-frame and feasibility of technology of the same nature being commonplace forward by decades.

It is more than likely that within the next few decades we will see technology of the same nature it every part of life. Prosthetic limbs will have the capability and functionality of their real counterparts. Patients with full body disability will have control of robotic parts that they can then use as if it was an extension of their body. As technology of this nature keeps jumping forward the boundary between man and machine continues to grow smaller.

This guest post has been written by blogger Kathleen Hubert. Kathleen is a blogger who writes on a variety of different sites. Check out more of her work at modularhomes.org.

Source: Arstechnica, Gizmodo

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