Cybernetics and Robotics News - June 2009 Archives

Reading the brain without poking it (6/30/2009)

Experimental devices that read brain signals have helped paralyzed people use computers and may let amputees control bionic limbs. But existing devices use tiny electrodes that poke into the brain. Now, a University of Utah study shows that brain signals controlling arm movements can be detected accurately using new microelectrodes that sit on the brain but don't penetrate it. ...> Full Article

'Neurologger' reads bird brains in flight (6/26/2009)

Using a "neurologger" specially designed to record the brain activity of pigeons in flight, researchers reporting online on June 25 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have gained new insight into what goes through the birds' minds as they fly over familiar terrain. The study is the first to simultaneously record electrical brain activity integrated with large-scale navigational movements of free-flying birds, according to the researchers. ...> Full Article

New therapy found to prevent heart failure (6/24/2009)

A landmark study has successfully demonstrated a 29 percent reduction in heart failure or death in patients with heart disease who received an implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy device with defibrillator (CRT-D) vs. patients who received only an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD-only). ...> Full Article

Autonomous robot detects shrapnel (6/19/2009)

Bioengineers at Duke University have developed a laboratory robot that can successfully locate tiny pieces of metal within flesh and guide a needle to its exact location -- all without the need for human assistance. ...> Full Article

International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (6/18/2009)

Robotics conference in London to feature expert robotics researchers from around the world. ...> Full Article

New research program BioInterfaces launched (6/12/2009)

BioInterfaces represents an ambitious new "Key Technologies" research program supported by the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific funding organization. The program brings together a team of biologists, chemists, physicists, materials scientists and informaticians. With an annual budget of approximately 20 million euro ($27.6 million), the 67 research teams will work closely together to develop innovative tools and technologies for precisely controlling the behavior of cells. ...> Full Article

Brain-computer interface begins new clinical trial for paralysis (6/11/2009)

BrainGate, technology that allows the detection of signals from the brain and uses those signals to control assistive devices, is about to begin a second, larger clinical trial based at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. ...> Full Article

First heart patients implanted with next-generation mechanical heart pump (6/5/2009)

Three patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center were among the first in the United States to be implanted with a next-generation artificial heart pump called the DuraHeart Left-Ventricular Assist System. The surgeries took place earlier this year. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is one of only three centers in the US currently enrolling patients in a clinical trial studying the device. ...> Full Article

Hybrid remotely operated vehicle 'Nereus' reaches deepest part of the ocean (6/4/2009)

Nereus is first vehicle to enable routine scientific investigation to the deepest ocean depths worldwide ...> Full Article

Artificial liver may extend lives (6/3/2009)

Device uses human liver cells to assist organ's functions ...> Full Article