Computer scientists have designed technologies to help the elderly maintain their independence. One device uses optical sensors to oversee people as they pick up and use items. Another device uses radio frequency identification technology to track which medications have been taken and when. Additionally a variety of sensors at a house can send information on the weather, activity of a person, and other information over the internet to another house, where a picture frame displays the findings graphically.
The United States is in the middle of a longevity revolution. The average person is expected to live to be 77. Boomers will hit 65 in 2011. Homes are going high tech to help us as we grow older.
After 70 years of marriage Ross and Helen Tipton still make beautiful music together. They're just two of more than 60 million seniors in America facing new technology head on!
"We are very fortunate and lucky to have found each other," Helen told Ivanhoe. "He's learned computer at his age, well I think that's a miracle."
His computer may come in handy. Computer scientists and human factors psychologists at Georgia Tech have developed the 'technology coach.' It takes complicated tasks such as checking your glucose level and breaks it down step-by-step on the computer.
"On the box it says it's as easy as 1-2-3 but when you fold out the list of instructions, it's actually 53 steps," Brian Jones, a computer researcher at Georgia Tech, told Ivanhoe.
The technology coach uses optical sensors on an overhead camera. It can tell if a person has picked up the wrong bottle, or if they are doing the steps out of order. The screen then reveals the problem and shows how to fix it. One day this technology may be used for more than just medicine. It could be applied to programming DVD players, TVs and answering machines.
Another problem for seniors is remembering and taking their medication. This 'memory mirror' may be the answer. "The memory mirror allows people to manage medication by showing them what they've done, what they need to do, but it does not force them to do it," Elizabeth Mynatt, human centered computing expert at Georgia Tech, told Ivanhoe.
It uses radio frequency barcodes to track what medication has been taken and when.
And new technology is not just keeping track of medication ... but it's also keeping track of people. "One of the things we talked to older adults about, would you be accepting of having people monitor your home and one common response is, 'well, if I know who is doing the monitoring.'" Wendy Rogers, PhD, professor of psychology at Georgia Tech, told Ivanhoe.
You can get something that looks like a portrait of Mom -- but it will actually say so much more. Butterflies around the portrait show how active she has been during the day. The bigger the butterfly, the more movement; the movement is picked up by sensors placed around the house. It can show up to 28 days of information; so family members can see patterns.
"You don't just want to know how your Mom is doing on a particular day, but you're concerned maybe there are a few days in a row where things seem pretty quiet, maybe your Mom is sick," Rogers explained. Just a few new ideas that will help seniors like Helen and Ross Tipton keep living and loving life.
Credits : http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/1102-digital_grandparents.htm
Chakradhar
www.chakradhar.net
Showing posts with label Info.Tech.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Info.Tech.. Show all posts
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan
Researchers believe their latest work will be used to develop prototypes of robotic leg braces for human use.
By K.C. Jones InformationWeek January 16, 2008 11:37 AM
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have used a monkey's brain activity to control a robot on the other side of the globe.
In what researchers tout as a first-of-its-kind experiment, monkeys' thoughts controlled the walking patterns of a robot in Japan.
"They can walk in complete synchronization," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who also is the Anne W. Deane Professor of Neuroscience at Duke. "The most stunning finding is that when we stopped the treadmill and the monkey ceased to move its legs, it was able to sustain the locomotion of the robot for a few minutes -- just by thinking -- using only the visual feedback of the robot in Japan."
Implanted electrodes gathered feedback from brain cells of two rhesus monkeys as they walked forward and backward at different paces on a treadmill. Sensors on the monkeys' legs tracked walking patterns while researchers used math models to analyze the relationship between leg movement and activity in the brain's motor and sensory cortex. From there, researchers in North Carolina and Japan determined how well brain cell activity predicted speed and stride.
"We found that certain neurons in multiple areas of the brain fire at different phases and at varying frequency, depending on their role in controlling the complex, multi-muscle process of motion," senior research investigator Nicolelis said in a statement.
Researchers recorded brain activity, predicted the pattern of locomotion, and sent the signal from the motor commands of the animal to the robot, he said.
"We also created a real-time transmission of information that allowed the brain activity of the monkey in North Carolina to control the commands of a robot in Japan," Nicolelis said. "Each neuron provides us with a small piece of the puzzle that we compile to predict the walking pattern of the monkeys with high accuracy."
The research, funded by the Anne W. Deane Endowed Chair Fund, expanded on previous experiments in Nicolelis' laboratory that showed monkeys could control the reaching and grasping movements of a robotic arm with their brain signals. Researchers believe that, within a year, their latest work will be used to develop prototypes of robotic leg braces for human use. They hope that robotic braces can help severely paralyzed patients walk again.
"In essence, we are seeking to capture the information that the foot sends to your brain when it touches the ground as you walk," Nicolelis said.
Mitsuo Kawato, M.E., Ph.D., director of ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories and research director of the Computational Brain Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, said the findings will be used to advance research on how the brain processes information.
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205801020
Chakradhar
www.chakradhar.net
By K.C. Jones InformationWeek January 16, 2008 11:37 AM
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have used a monkey's brain activity to control a robot on the other side of the globe.
In what researchers tout as a first-of-its-kind experiment, monkeys' thoughts controlled the walking patterns of a robot in Japan.
"They can walk in complete synchronization," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who also is the Anne W. Deane Professor of Neuroscience at Duke. "The most stunning finding is that when we stopped the treadmill and the monkey ceased to move its legs, it was able to sustain the locomotion of the robot for a few minutes -- just by thinking -- using only the visual feedback of the robot in Japan."
Implanted electrodes gathered feedback from brain cells of two rhesus monkeys as they walked forward and backward at different paces on a treadmill. Sensors on the monkeys' legs tracked walking patterns while researchers used math models to analyze the relationship between leg movement and activity in the brain's motor and sensory cortex. From there, researchers in North Carolina and Japan determined how well brain cell activity predicted speed and stride.
"We found that certain neurons in multiple areas of the brain fire at different phases and at varying frequency, depending on their role in controlling the complex, multi-muscle process of motion," senior research investigator Nicolelis said in a statement.
Researchers recorded brain activity, predicted the pattern of locomotion, and sent the signal from the motor commands of the animal to the robot, he said.
"We also created a real-time transmission of information that allowed the brain activity of the monkey in North Carolina to control the commands of a robot in Japan," Nicolelis said. "Each neuron provides us with a small piece of the puzzle that we compile to predict the walking pattern of the monkeys with high accuracy."
The research, funded by the Anne W. Deane Endowed Chair Fund, expanded on previous experiments in Nicolelis' laboratory that showed monkeys could control the reaching and grasping movements of a robotic arm with their brain signals. Researchers believe that, within a year, their latest work will be used to develop prototypes of robotic leg braces for human use. They hope that robotic braces can help severely paralyzed patients walk again.
"In essence, we are seeking to capture the information that the foot sends to your brain when it touches the ground as you walk," Nicolelis said.
Mitsuo Kawato, M.E., Ph.D., director of ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories and research director of the Computational Brain Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, said the findings will be used to advance research on how the brain processes information.
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205801020
Chakradhar
www.chakradhar.net
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