Play the guitar without having to learn the guitar
Posted 06.24.2011 at 1:44 pm
7 Comments
PossessedHand
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
Researchers at Tokyo University, along with some help from Sony, created a device that straps onto your arm, sort of like a blood pressure cuff, and sends electrical signals to your fingers that can move them in precise ways. It's called, of course, the PossessedHand.
The PossessedHand uses an Arduino microcontroller, the low-cost tool of choice for DIYers, and 28 electrode pads that are applied externally. There have been other devices that do this sort of thing, but they've often been pretty clumsy, needing electrodes to be inserted into the skin (ouch!). The PossessedHand is entirely external and painless, and, according to PhysOrg, "is said to feel more like a gentle hand massage." The signals are also not unpleasantly strong, apparently feeling more like a nudge to move rather than a forceful automatic movement of the fingers and wrist.
The uses for such a device are pretty clear, especially as you can preprogram strings of signals. It could be used in music education, to teach the proper finger movements and placings, or it could translate spoken language into sign language, which your hand performs automatically. There are potential medical uses as well; teaching stroke victims how to use their hands again, that kind of thing. It's not a prosthesis, really, but it could prove useful to a totally new set of people. And it's definitely more useful than Daito Manabe's face-electroshocking hobby. Here's a video of it in action from New Scientist:
[PhysOrg]
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Freaky!
Cool. Now we just have one that picks up signals instead of transmitting them, connect the two via Bluetooth, and then whatever I do, you do.
A more evil person might use this for devastating purposes, where as I would have only one question...
"Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself. Why are you hitting yourself?"
-IMP ;) :)
The japenese are working on body control tech so they can rule the world without any oppositon *SCREAM!*
But seriously think of what we might be able to do 4 years from now with this tech. some areas of science are better left untouched.
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*growls*If you troll or flare I WILL MAUL YOU!*growls*
@IceMetalPunk - Gives a whole new concept to "The Stranger..."
OMG! That's so stupid. Are we to lazy to move our own hand that we need electronics to do it for us? What is the world coming to?!?
@KillerRoundCube, I don't think that the researchers that created this device intended it for lazy people to use physical macros. Read the article. It would be an effective training aid for any number of things that are either complex to learn or require repeated precision. It guides the fingers into doing the action. I can see several uses in my line of work. Surgery is difficult as is, and the veterinarians I work with would be pleased to have a tactile indication they're doing something outside the parameters of the operation.
HALO Nerd ;D
Could be used for stroke victims