Johns Hopkins APL, TNO Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Collaborative Research and Technology Development
Robert “Buz” Chmielewski is using two modular prosthetic limbs developed by Johns Hopkins APL to feed himself dessert. Smart software puts his utensils in roughly the right spot, and then Buz uses his brain signals to cut the food with knife and fork. Once he is done cutting, the software then brings the food near his mouth, where he again uses brain signals to bring the food the last several inches to his mouth so he can eat it. Such human-machine interface systems are one of several disciplines that will be fostered through the recently signed memorandum of understanding between APL and TNO.
February 11, 2021 at 6:00 am
Gertrude the pig rooted around a straw-filled pen, oblivious to the cameras and onlookers and the 1,024 electrodes eavesdropping on her brain signals. Each time the pig’s snout found a treat in a researcher’s hand, a musical jingle sounded, indicating activity in her snout-controlling nerve cells.
Those beeps were part of the big reveal on August 28 by Elon Musk’s company Neuralink. “In a lot of ways, it’s kind of like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires,” said Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, of the new technology.
Neuroscientists have been recording nerve cell activity from animals for decades. But the ambitions of Musk and others to link humans with computers are shocking in their reach. Future-minded entrepreneurs and researchers aim to listen in on our brains and perhaps even reshape thinking. Imagine being able to beckon our Teslas with our minds, Jedi-style.
app: Short for application, or a computer program designed for a specific task.
avatar: (in virtual reality) An electronic rendering of some image. It becomes the virtual form of some character (even a computer or game user) that will be moved and manipulated by a computer user. It can interact with its environment and other characters.
behavior: The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.
binge: To do or consume something to excess usually an unhealthy excess.
cell: The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell.
A quadriplegic man used two prosthetic robot arms to feed himself a Twinkie.
Jan 7th, 2021
If you suffered a severe accident that turned you into a quadriplegic, what’s the first thing you’d do when you get mind-controlled prosthetics? If you said eat a twinkie, good on you. A recent
DigitalTrendsarticle discussed Robert “Buz” Chmielewski, a quadriplegic man who lost control and feeling in his hands after an accident in his teens, and now learning to use mind-controlled robotic arms.
As part of a clinical trial two years ago, Buz underwent a 10-hour procedure to implant electrodes in his brain, allowing him to control smart prostheses with his thoughts. Now, thanks to software developed by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, he is able to feed himself with robotic arms. A video of the impressive achievement can be seen here.
While we’d normally be unsettled by the sight of robot arms clinging to knives, in this case, it’s a testament to the wonders of science. Robotics, in conjunction with AI and a brain-machine interface, combined to give Chmielewski –– who has had limited feeling in his hands and fingers since a childhood accident –– the agency to perform such an everyday task, which for him is anything but ordinary.
As documented in the video below, last month, Chmielewski mentally powered two modular prosthetic limbs created by the smarties at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, to perform simultaneous bimanual manipulation of a Twinkie. In other words, he used a fork and a knife to cut pieces of the cake and feed himself.