CIMIT blog

Smartphone-enabled Prosthetics Keep Amputees Out of Doctors' Office — +MassDevice.com

+MassDevice.com (January 4, 2013) — A "smart" prosthetic foot and ankle system uses microprocessor technology and a smartphone app that allows the device to adjust to a user's needs by responding to the environment or taking orders directly from the patient.

Orthocare Innovations' Magellan Microprocessor Foot Ankle System, a "smart" prosthetic that uses microprocessor computer control to automatically adjust for various types of activities and terrain, also features a smartphone app that allows users to adjust features of the prosthetic without needing to visit their doctors' offices.

The app also records activity that can then be shared with a physician or care provider monitoring the device, according to the video.

View original post on +MassDevice.com >>

Automatic Building Mapping Could Help Emergency Responders: A prototype sensor array that can be worn on the chest automatically maps the wearer’s environment, recognizing movement between floors

MIT News Office (September 24, 2012) — MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is moving. The prototype system, described in a paper slated for the Intelligent Robots and Systems conference in Portugal next month, is envisioned as a tool to help emergency responders coordinate disaster response.



In experiments conducted on the MIT campus, a graduate student wearing the sensor system wandered the halls, and the sensors wirelessly relayed data to a laptop in a distant conference room. Observers in the conference room were able to track the student’s progress on a map that sprang into being as he moved.

Connected to the array of sensors is a handheld pushbutton device that the wearer can use to annotate the map. In the prototype system, depressing the button simply designates a particular location as a point of interest. But the researchers envision that emergency responders could use a similar system to add voice or text tags to the map — indicating, say, structural damage or a toxic spill.

Read full story at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/automatic-building-mapping-0924.html >>

Merging Tissue and Electronics: New tissue scaffold could be used for implantable therapeutic devices

web.mit.edu (August 27, 2012) — A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital has now added a new element to tissue scaffolds: electronic sensors. These sensors, made of silicon nanowires, could be used to monitor electrical activity in the tissue surrounding the scaffold, control drug release or screen drug candidates for their effects on the beating of heart tissue.

Read full story on web.mit.edu >>

FDA approves ingestible sensor that transmits patient data to doctors

cbsnews.com (August 1, 2012) — Digestible sensors that can report medication adherence and vital signs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The ingestible sensor, which was already been approved for use in Europe in 2011, can transmit information about the patient to medical professionals and help them customize care.

Read full story on cbsnews.com >>

The Velveteen Robot: A robotic modeled on the earthworm takes soft robotics to a new level

Researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Seoul National University have created a robotic worm. “So what?” you ask. They’re also making robotic horses—and robot hummingbirds, for goodness sake. What’s promising about the new robot worm, though—the Meshworm, as it’s called—is that it’s a different kind of robot. Sangbae Kim, a mechanical engineer at MIT who led the Meshworm project, says he believes the technology could be used to make endoscopes and implants, among other devices. Read more at businessweek.com >>

Paralyzed, Moving a Robot With Their Minds

Research led by Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University and the Department of Veterans Affairs allows a paralyzed woman to move a robotic arm with her mind!

Cathy Hutchinson has been unable to move her own arms or legs for 15 years. But using the most advanced brain-machine interface ever developed, she can steer a robotic arm towards a bottle, pick it up, and drink her morning coffee. The interface includes a sensor implanted in Cathy's brain, which 'reads' her thoughts, and a decoder, which turns her thoughts into instructions for the robotic arm. In this video, watch Cathy control the arm and hear from the team behind the pioneering study.

Learn more:

• Original research paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7398/full/nature11076.html
• Read stories and watch videos at www.cbsnew.com and  www.nytimes.com.