Grin Break
Since we are having a non-political evening here on the site, I thought I’d fill you in on a remarkable new medical technology I saw first-hand at last night’s X-Prize Foundation dinner in San Francisco. During the cocktail reception, I enjoyed an engaging eye-to-eye chat with a lovely young woman, Tamara Mena. Tamara was walking around the floor at a party for the first time in the six years since her paralyzing automobile accident.
Tamara's achievement is the result of her hard work and determination coupled with a new exoskeleton developed by a Berkeley medical technology firm, Ekso Bionics.
Reflect for a moment how the ultra-low power microprocessor and sensors in your smartphone have changed your life. Next, imagine how continued advances along these lines are likely to play out in augmenting the function of the disabled.
I expect Tamara to be running again well before she reaches my age.
- Comment (18)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
Comments :
May '10
Re: Grin Break
Silicon power controllers and high torque stepper motors, tactile sensore and accelerometers (derived from video game controllers); you knew that this was inevitable some day. Cool technology- I figured back in 1996 that this was coming, because our tiny company was making electronic sensor-embedded orthoses for rehab.
Of course, the market pretty much has to be military and people who win accident lawsuits, because no insurance company could pay for it.
Apr '11
Re: Grin Break
Working as I do for a mid-size biomedical company and seeing the things that are being done on a small scale at our site in joint, bone and tissue repair I'm amazed but not surprised.
The great paradox of mankind is our will and ability to use technology on it's highest plane as we witness in this story and on it's lowest as we develop more sophisticated means of destruction.
I applaud the X-Prize foundation for their willingness to stimulate that "Hidden Hand" that Adam Smith spoke so profoundly of.
Jul '10
Re: Grin Break
Wow. Just wow.
Thanks for posting that George.
Dec '10
Re: Grin Break
Thank you George - that one went straight to Facebook.
Oct '10
Re: Grin Break
Ditto. A friend of mine was telling me about this just the other day. What a coincidence. It's inspiring to see new applications in technology for perennial problems.
Re: Grin Break
George, what a wonderful story. The X Prize Foundation is truly one of the great unsung sources of innovation extant today. I may just try to beat Malcom Gladwell to writing that piece.
May '10
Re: Grin Break
Ya, well I saw it coming in 1986 -- especially the embedded tactile torque accelerometers. I mean, who didn't see that coming? :-)
Apr '11
Re: Grin Break
"The first liar never had a chance." :-)
Back in 1976 (or so), Martin Caidin was a guest on Tom Snyder's show. (Caidin wrote Cyborg, on which the Six Million Dollar Man TV show was based.) He had some footage of a prototype mechanism that was enabling people with broken spines to walk. It was huge and clumsy, and sort of suspended the person at the center of a "spider" like in the Jonny Quest episode, but it worked and was extremely cool for people who would never be able to walk again..
Re: Grin Break
I remember the book vividly, the television series a bit less crisply due to the stacked implausibilities littering each episode.
We should never underestimate the ability of science fiction read by pimply teenagers to inform their later enthusiasms as engineers. Without the Star Trek communicator we would likely never have had the once futuristic-appearing Motorola Star Tac flip phone. And 60's scifi inspiration lives on: The X-Prize foundation is now sponsoring a prize for a medical "tricorder" like Dr. McCoy's to inexpensively diagnose ailments in the field.
May '10
Re: Grin Break
Scott Reusser
Ya, well I saw it coming in 1986 -- especially the embedded tactile torque accelerometers. I mean, who didn't see that coming? :-) · Oct 21 at 9:37pm
Ya got me, I should have inserted the "Oxford comma" right after "tactile sensore(sic)" to separate the sensors from the accelerometers. My garbled syntax implied that the sensors themselves were accelerometers. Oops.
Obviously, Scott was good in English.
Feb '11
Re: Grin Break
Duane Oyen:
Of course, the market pretty much has to be military and people who win accident lawsuits, because no insurance company could pay for it. · Oct 21 at 8:08pm
Fortunately, there will be a pretty limited market for this type of technology. Do you think costs can come down despite the limited market? Do you think it will be advances in artificial intelligence, simulation, virtual reality and gaming that would drive the cost declines for this?
Re: Grin Break
The main costs are regulatory--FDA can be a multi-million dollar headache. But costs will come down thanks to the mobile computing (aka "cell phone") industry. For example, a 3-axis accelerometer with thresholding (activates only with a change in position or activity) for power conservation is a pretty high-tech piece of kit: today it costs about a buck due to the enormous volumes being made (it's the gizmo that makes your iPhone screen magically rotate when you change the handset orientation).
Edited on Oct 22, 2011 at 7:16amFeb '11
Re: Grin Break
George Savage
We should never underestimate the ability of science fiction read by pimply teenagers to inform their later enthusiasms as engineers. Without the Star Trek communicator we would likely never have had the once futuristic-appearing Motorola Star Tac flip phone. And 60's scifi inspiration lives on: The X-Prize foundation is now sponsoring a prize for a medical "tricorder" like Dr. McCoy's to inexpensively diagnose ailments in the field. · Oct 22 at 6:59am
Do you think bringing down costs of and shortening the amount of time for performing DNA testing will drive this? I've also heard that urinals would also be a good place for providing medical diagnostics. Any ideas about that?
Re: Grin Break
I think the the technologies are complementary. DNA sequencing is mainly predictive--you have a 2X relative risk of XYZ disease--while biochemical sensors are empiric--what is wrong right now? Biophysical sensors, such as the accelerometers providing data for the powered exoskeleton, are used to interface with the non-biologic real world.
Knitting everything together is the ultra-low power microprocessor. Lots of raw computing power for almost no money that can run off a small lithium-ion battery for a day at a time. Way cool.
Feb '11
Re: Grin Break
George Savage
The main costs are regulatory--FDA can be a multi-million dollar headache. But costs will come down thanks to the mobile computing (aka "cell phone") industry. For example, a 3-axis accelerometer with thresholding (activates only with a change in position or activity) for power conservation is a pretty high-tech piece of kit: today it costs about a buck due to the enormous volumes being made (it's the gizmo that makes your iPhone screen magically rotate when you change the handset orientation). · Oct 22 at 7:15am
Edited on Oct 22 at 07:16 am
Excellent point about FDA. Any ideas about what can be done without going incurring more thalidomide scenarios? I know that will take more than 200 words as response, but you might think of it as subject for post. I think idea of just throwing out all the regulations is not workable or feasible but agree that they need to be pared back. Question is: how? Or do you disagree and think they should just be abolished? (BTW, I used to work for EPA in their labs and have opinions about them.)
May '10
Re: Grin Break
If this thing is all exo, FDA won't be an issue at all. Public pressure trumps any 510(k) any time, if indeed there ever was a roadblock there, the opposite of the case for anything implantable. If the controls are external impulse- for example, you move your head to tell the feet to turn, etc., regulation won't be a major deal to demonstrate safety (reliability may be an issue). But if they implant something to try to harvest control impulses-a lot of experimental work in that area is going on right now- you go to full PMA right away, like an implantable defibrillator.
The problem is volume. As George points out, the phone and gaming industries have brought component parts costs down to near-nothing. But this is a very complex and integrated system. Businesses always want to sell systems, not components- integration is where the value is added. Think Oracle versus Lenovo, or Apple versus the LCD foundry.
That is why these things will cost millions for a long time, unless someone releases a kids toy "Transformer Knight in Shining Armor" suit. Then the markets merge- think Roland's RD700 and Casios Privia PX330.
May '10
Re: Grin Break
Thanks everyone - truly uplifting thoughts on a Saturday morning. Also shows that amazing innovation is happening today in America.
Apr '11
Re: Grin Break
George Savage
I remember the book vividly, the television series a bit less crisply due to the stacked implausibilities littering each episode.
We should never underestimate the ability of science fiction read by pimply teenagers to inform their later enthusiasms as engineers.
Just to clarify, not to contest:
1.) Caidin wasn't thrilled about the TV show. He especially pointed out that Steve Austin wouldn't be able to run 60 m.p.h.; he'd be able to run 17 (or 22) mph near indefinitely. (I assume Caidin enjoyed the ... intellectual payments ... he got from the show.)
2. Caidin was, at least, a historian. (I mean that if he was a engineer (and I don't remember his biography, but probably he was)). He almost certainly regarded his fiction as adult, cautionary tales.
Not that pimply-face youth don't have a role in society. Mostly to sit there and be quiet. (It's fine with me if they invent something ....)