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
 |
Bluetooth-Enabled Robot Legs Talk To Each Other
Bluetooth-enabled robotic legs are helping Iraq veterans walk again. When Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill lost both his legs above the knees when a bomb exploded under his Humvee while on patrol in Iraq, physical therapists outfitted him with robotic legs that can talk to each other.
(Bluetooth-enabled robotic legs)
Each leg is equipped with computer chips in each leg, as well as built-in motors, to ease the process of walking long distances. Past versions of the prosthetic legs were provided only to people with one good, working leg. The robot leg would imitate the existing, organic leg.
With Bleill's set, each leg mimics the other, thanks to Bluetooth technology that sends signals over a short distance. When Bleill stands up and leans forward, the legs get the signal to start walking.
After several steps, the legs have worked out a coordinated walking motion that continues until Bleill signals them to stop by apply resistance to forward motion with canes.
And yes, this is the very same Bluetooth technology that you use in your cell phone, or other enabled device.
So how well does it work? Bleill seems pretty impressed.
"We've compared walking several laps in both sets of legs and one, your legs come out burning and tired and these, you know, you sometimes are not even breaking a sweat yet."
There may be a Star Trek: The Next Generation correlation to these legs. In one episode, Worf is paralyzed and one of the options is to use transmitters to help his legs move again.
Earlier than that, fans may recall the bionic legs from Cyborg, the novel from which The Six Million Dollar Man was created:
They had created, lovingly, with infinite attention to detail, a bionics and electronics duplicate of what had been the legs of Steve Austin... ...where revascularization was not possible, they used plastic and cerosium and Dacron and silastic and whatever else was necessary... They were opening nerve endings and preparing bone. They were on the brink of a new world of the human and bionics, of joining living flesh and bone to electronics and steel and vitallium and plastic and tiny, powerful units of nuclear energy... Human and human-made were brought together, connected, spliced, wired, sealed...
(Read more about Steve Austin's bionic legs
This is also an interesting example of robots that cooperate with each other. Story via Double amputee walks again due to Bluetooth; thanks to Eric Nodacker for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/25/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...' - Schachner/Zagat, 1931
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me... - Manly Wade Wellman, 1938.
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
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'
DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'
Who Knows What Might Be Found When Visiting A Metal Asteroid?
'...inspect the tiny speck of matter that swam toward them out of the bottomless void.'
Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
Astronauts first walked the site, then flew over the site at a few hundred feet in a small Cessna.
FlyCroTug Drones Work In Teams Now
'It slid smoothly out of its cell like a metal wasp emerging from its nest, and hung in midair.'
Zai Pits (West Sahel) And Dew Collectors (Dune)
'Each is planted most tenderly in its own little pit.'
Delivery Robots Being Bullied, Robbed
'Robots have worse problems than anybody.' (A Present for Pat)
Zoom Education Idea Is 100 Years Old
'... the frosted glass squares began, one by one, to show the faces and shoulders of a peculiar type of young men.'
