NEWRON vol I issue VII (3-31-07)

Edited by: Natan Davidovics

Turning thoughts into action
http://medicaldesign.com/articles/ID/13448

Imagine a machine that can sense what you think and act on your commands. Sound scary? Not so for people with paralyzed limbs or debilitating conditions such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). Machines like this could let them communicate and even move artificial limbs.

If you're happy, the robot knows it

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19325966.500-if-youre-happy-the-r%20%20obot-knows-it.html


Meet RoCo, the world's first expressive computer (.mov video). Inhabiting a back room in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, the robotic computer has a monitor for a head and a simple LCD screen for a face. It expresses itself using its double-jointed neck, which is equipped with actuators that shift the monitor up and down, tilt it forward and back and swivel it from side to side, rather like Pixar's animated lamp.

A Shock to the System

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/brainsurgery.html

Team Hubris is installing a deep brain stimulator, essentially a neurological pacemaker, in my head. This involves threading two sets of stiff wires in through my scalp, through my cerebrum — most of my brain — and into my subthalamic nucleus, a target the size of a lima bean, located near the brain stem. Each wire is a little thinner than a small, unfolded paper clip, with four electrodes at one end. The electrodes will eventually deliver small shocks to my STN. How did I get into this mess? Well, I have Parkinson's disease.