Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
The Thinking Man's Wheelchair
Audeo allows the control of a wheelchair by neurological signals. Put more simply, you can move the chair if you think you can.
The Audeo system uses a neckband with sensors to capture signals sent to the vocal chords by the brain to initiate speech. (Speech production is not necessary to move the wheelchair). These neurological signals are processed by a TI CompactRIO computer, which compares them to the signals associated with pre-recorded words determined during training exercises.
The computer then issues appropriate commands to the motorized wheelchair.
The following informative video demonstrates that the device works perfectly.
(Ambient Audeo Mind-Powered Wheelchair video)
This is a truly remarkable achievement. The first time I ever heard of this idea was in The Menagerie, first broadcast in November of 1966. Captain Christopher Pike is confined to a wheelchair that is operated by brainwaves alone.
Note that this is not a case of a superhuman character who uses telekinesis to move the chair. Pike is an ordinary man who uses an extraordinary technology.
Which now exists, thanks to a lot of hard work by engineers at Ambient Corporation and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
For additional amazement, take a look at these previous articles:
Via Thinking of words can guide your wheelchair. Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/7/2007) | Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy: 
(Christoper Pike's Star Trek thought-controlled wheelchair)
A tiny sensor array implanted in the brain has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games
Turnabout is fair play - machines can now control humans.
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Climate Engineering In California Could Make Europe's Heat Waves Worse
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.' - Neal Stephenson, 2021.
Textiles That Harvest Energy And Store It
'The clothes and jewelery drew their tiny power requirements from her movements.' - Alastair Reynolds, 2005.
Coin-Sized Nuclear Battery Good For 100 Years
'...power pack the size of a pea.' - Alfred Bester, 1956.
The FLUTE Project - A Huge Liquid Mirror In Space
'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1934.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
Space Exporers! Now, You Can Drink Your Own Urine
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...'
Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.'
Rizon 4 Ironing Robot
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
