Welcome to #10 Avatar Technology Digest. As always we bring you the latest news on Technology, Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence from the most trusted sources. And here are the top stories of the last week.
1) A brain implant that can decode what someone wants to do has allowed a man paralyzed from the neck down to control a robotic arm with unprecedented fluidity – and enjoy a beer at his own pace for the first time in 13 years.
When the 34 year old Erik Sorto was shot in the back 13 years ago, he was left instantly paralyzed from the neck down.
So its one of the latest attempts at creating mind-controlled prosthetics to help disabled people gain more independence.
Previous research targeted a region of the brain known as the motor cortex, which controls movement.
The new technology of American scientists works by focusing on recording signals from a different brain region that usual – the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). The signals in the PPC are more related to movement planning - what you actually intend to do - rather than the details of the movement execution. Surgeons implanted a pair of small electrode arrays in two parts of the PPC of a Sorto. The arrays were connected by a cable to a system of computers that processed the signals. They decoded the intent of the subject, and controlled output devices that included a computer cursor and a robotic arm.
2) Brain-controlled bionic legs are finally here. Now amputees can control their bionic prosthetic limbs with their minds, thanks to tiny implanted myoelectric sensors (IMES) developed by Icelandic orthopedics company Ossur and surgically placed in a patient's residual muscle tissue.
Ossur implanted tiny sensors in the residual muscle tissue of two amputees that they say trigger movement in the prosthesis via a receiver. Ossur President & CEO was due to announce in Copenhagen last Wednesday that the two amputees are the first world-wide to be able to control their lower-limb prostheses subconsciously.
The Implanted Myoelectric Sensors (IMES) measure 5 millimeters (mm) long and 3mm wide and were provided by the United States-based Alfred Mann Foundation, which develops medical technology for use in patients. Patients’ bodies continue to adapt to the prosthetic limbs more each day, allowing them increased control of it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/20/us-iceland-mind-controlled-limb-idUSKBN0O51EQ20150520
3) An optometrist Garth Webb in British Columbia claims to have invented an easily implantable bionic device that provides its wearer with vision "three times better than 20/20" for life.
This device appears to be very similar in structure to the conventional artificial lenses employed in cataract surgery. The eight-minute installation procedure is reportedly painless. It involves injecting the folded lense into your eye where it unfurls to replace your natural lense and correct your vision. There's also an added benefit in that with these artificial lenses in place, you'll never develop cataracts.
Once it has unravelled - within about 10 seconds - the vision is corrected and Dr Webb claims it is 'three times better than 20/20' аnd he continued it was 'as painless and gentle' as cataract surgery.
Elsewhere the lens is made of 'inert biocompatible polymeric materials that do not cause biophysical changes within the eye.
4) In our last video, wed like you to pay close attention on Berkley’s robot BRETT demonstrating human-like learning abilities and learning from his mistakes.
Berkeley researchers crated a robot that can learn and get smarter all by itself after performing tedious tasks over and over again. Brett gets better at tasks after trying for a few minutes.
It does appear like it could be a human kind of learning, how to move its joints for the first time. In fact, the researchers have all sorts of video of Brett solving simple problems all by himself. "All you have to do is define what is good and the robot will learn how to achieve good performance," say researchers.
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/05/21/deep-learning-robot-masters-skills-via-trial-and-error/
TV Presenter: Olesya Yermakova
Editor: Alexander Sokolkov
Resources: www.newscientist.com, www.ria.ru, www.dailymail.co.uk, www.russian.rt.com, www.popsci.com, www.geektimes.ru, www.engadget.com, www.hi-news.ru, www.newscenter.berkeley.edu, www.abc7news.com, www.nplus1.ru
Keck Medicine of USC, Reuters, Aging Reversed, The Canadian Press, UC Berkeley Campus Life
Thanks Delight Studio for the help with shooting www.delightstudio.ru