MMI, a robotics company dedicated to increasing treatment options and improving clinical outcomes for patients with complex conditions, today announced that its Symani® Surgical System is now commercially available in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted De Novo Classification to the robotic system for soft tissue manipulation to perform microsurgery, a highly specialized technique that involves reconnecting tiny vessels to restore blood flow or redirect fluid during reconstruction or repair.

The FDA authorization makes the Symani Surgical System the only commercially available platform in the U.S. for reconstructive microsurgery. The technology is positioned to open the field of microsurgery to new surgeons by quickly developing their skills, as well as to empower skilled microsurgeons to confidently expand into supermicrosurgery, creating a novel category of treatments that the human hand cannot perform without robotic assistance.

“The U.S. is facing a potentially dire shortage of physicians, and that shortage acutely impacts specialized fields of medicine, such as microsurgery,” said Mark Toland, CEO of MMI. “With the authorization from the FDA, our technology will expand its reach to pioneering hospitals in the U.S. It will help those hospitals grow their open surgical programs, expand the number of physicians who can perform these highly complicated procedures, and increase patient access to the most advanced techniques for surgeries in complex disease states, such as lymphedema. Our system will continue to provoke surgeons to challenge their definitions of ‘treatable’ and ‘untreatable’ and empower them to solve cases that have historically been too difficult to treat.”

Related Robot Completes Surgery in Space

Specific techniques used in microsurgery include reconnecting small anatomical structures, such as blood and lymphatic vessels, during open surgical procedures. Supermicrosurgery involves reconstruction or repair of even smaller vessels, typically less than 1mm in diameter, and fewer than 600 surgeons worldwide perform supermicrosurgery today.

The Symani Surgical System provides advanced solutions for a range of open surgeries, including post-mastectomy breast cancer reconstruction, extremity reconstruction using free tissue transfer, and lymphatic system repair.

“By making open surgery less invasive and more precise, we can treat more conditions and offer robotic-assisted surgical options to patients that simply do not exist today,” said Dr. L. Scott Levin, co-CMO of MMI. “Within the next five years, this expanded portfolio of addressable open surgical procedures is expected to exceed the number of eligible laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, procedures that leverage robotic assistance. The authorization from the FDA helps to solve a critical unmet need and will help surgeons perform a new category of complex open surgeries enabled by transformative technology.”

The Symani Surgical System offers surgeons entirely new capabilities because it features the world’s smallest surgical robotic wrist, called NanoWrist. The unique design enables surgeons to replicate the natural movements of the human hand at the micro scale, which encourages a flatter learning curve in the training process. The articulated wrist features seven degrees of freedom that match the human wrist, tremor filtration and motion scaling, ultimately increasing precision and control.

Surgeons have leveraged the Symani Surgical System in nearly 1,000 clinical cases in the European Union and in thousands of preclinical cases around the world. The Symani Surgical System is available for commercial use in Europe and parts of Asia Pacific. MMI plans to immediately launch the technology in the U.S.

About MMI

MMI (Medical Microinstruments, Inc.) is on a mission to advance robotic technology that pushes the limits of soft tissue open surgery and opens new opportunities for surgeons to restore quality of life for more patients with complex conditions. The company was founded in 2015 near Pisa, Italy, and its proprietary Symani Surgical System combines the world’s smallest wristed microinstruments with tremor-reducing and motion-scaling technologies to address significant unmet patient needs across the globe.

Turkey-based digital health startup h2o therapeutics announced its new Apple Watch-enabled freezing of gait-cuing feature, dubbed Foggy, designed for Parkinson’s Disease patients has received FDA listing as a Class II medical device and is available via prescription.

Parkinson's disease affects millions worldwide, presenting unique challenges to both patients and caregivers. Freezing of gait is when someone may have temporary episodes of an inability to step forward. This abnormal gait pattern, in particular, significantly impacts mobility and independence, often leading to falls and decreased quality of life, according to a press release.

Foggy uses the Taptic Engine in Apple Watch to provide vibrotactile stimulation for individuals experiencing freezing of gait, a debilitating symptom of Parkinson's disease. Users can simply tap a complication on their Apple Watch to initiate haptic feedback that helps with the condition.

"Cueing strategies hold immense promise in aiding individuals with freezing of gait," says Yagmur Selin Gulmus, founder of h2o therapeutics. "However, the key to their effectiveness lies in accessibility, individualization, and ease of use. Our introduction of Foggy marks a significant advancement in the field, offering patients a non-invasive solution by simply wearing their Apple Watch, designed to assist without adding cognitive load."

h2o conducted two clinical studies to explore different cueing methods, including audio and visual cues using augmented reality. By collaborating closely with the Parkinson's community, the company gained valuable insights into patients' specific needs and preferences. In response, h2o developed Foggy, a user-friendly app tailored to the unique requirements of people living with Parkinson's disease.

"We're excited to launch Foggy on World Parkinson's Day, highlighting a major step in our fight against the tricky problem of freezing of gait, a condition full of unknowns," explains Gulmus. "Foggy is a starting point towards tackling this issue that only a wealth of real-world data can clarify. Besides haptic cue generation, Foggy also acts as a data platform. This allows us to better understand freezing of gait and individualize our technology to meet the specific needs of those experiencing it."

Related Apple Watch Glucose Tracker Reaches Proof-Of-Concept

In 2022, h2o therapeutics obtained 510(k) marketing clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its prescription mobile app, Parky, designed for monitoring Parkinson's Disease. Integrated into Parky is the new Class II feature, Foggy, enhancing the app's capabilities with a holistic approach to manage Parkinson's symptoms. Parky app enables real-time monitoring of symptoms like tremors and dyskinesia through integration with Apple Watch using the Movement Disorder API; with the addition of Foggy, it now offers even more comprehensive support for patients. This innovation is a valuable tool for facilitating the exchange of meaningful and reliable data between patients and medical professionals, aiding in a better understanding and management of the disease.

The human hand is a complex and versatile organ that enables humans to interact with the environment, communicate, create, and use tools. The control of the hand by the brain is a crucial aspect of human cognition and behavior, but also a challenging problem for both neuroscience and engineering.

From an engineering perspective, understanding the brain mechanisms of hand control can inspire the design and control of robotic and prosthetic hands. These devices aim to restore or enhance the functionality and appearance of the natural hand, enabling users to perform daily activities and interact with objects. For people who use prosthesis, the device is a way to recover what they have lost, i.e., the hand.

The iLimb Quantum, a myo-electric prosthetic hand developed by Ossur, is the only upper limb prosthesis on the market with gesture control, which allows you to change grips with a simple gesture.

Related Smart Prosthetic Lets Man Feel Hot and Cold

Using a patented i-mo technology, the i-limb quantum has 24 pre-programmed grips and 12 additional custom grip patterns that are specific to the user’s individual lifestyle, allowing huge versatility and flexibility. And in addition to that, the i-limb™ quantum’s five independently articulating digits with individual stall out ability gives arm amputees a level of independence and capability that few other prosthetic hand solutions can offer. With 36 total unique grip options, extended battery life, a Speed Boost feature, and a durable, lifelike design, the i-limb™ quantum is a new standard for powerful and adaptable myo-electric prosthetic hands.

Key features:

• Electronically rotating thumb, with manual override, automatically switches between lateral and oppositional grip patterns for optimum grip

• Select from up to 36 different grips, both pre-programmed and customized to suit users' daily activities

• Vari-Grip feature provides additional grip strength when applied

• Auto-Grasp – anti-drop safety feature to prevent objects from slipping out of a user's grasp

• Touch Care package offers warranty support for up to five years

• Biosim and My i-Limb Apps for set up and personalization of grips and features

• Available in four sizes – extra small, small, medium and large

• Multiple covering options available to suit individual lifestyles

VR training firm Osso VR announced the launch of Osso Health, a medical training app on Apple Vision Pro. Leveraging the power of Apple Vision Pro to seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world Osso Health brings the operating experience to life via detailed, clinically accurate workflows of common procedures.

Osso Health's simulated surgical environment for Apple Vision Pro represents a major milestone in democratizing access to procedural education. With this launch, Osso VR is extending its technology to a broader audience, making procedural education accessible to healthcare professionals, patients preparing for surgery, and individuals interested in medical innovation. The Osso Health app is designed to simulate medical procedures at the highest fidelity, seamlessly integrating the operating room into physical spaces and providing on-demand access to hands-on learning from anywhere. visionOS features a brand-new three-dimensional user interface and input system controlled entirely by a user's eyes, hands, and voice, so Osso Health users can seamlessly and intuitively explore procedures, according to a press release.

The Osso Health app currently lets users engage with surgical workflows for two common orthopedic procedures: Carpal Tunnel Release and Total Knee Replacement. The user can walk through the key steps of each procedure using Apple Vision Pro's novel approach to spatial computing. Spatial computing has opened up new possibilities for medical professionals to explore complicated medical procedures in a secure, controlled, and real-world setting. Osso VR's proficiency in medical artistry overlayed onto the real world enhances the authenticity of the training, making it an indispensable tool for medical students, residents, and practicing physicians alike.

Related Apple Vision Pro Used in Spinal Surgery

"Osso Health for Apple Vision Pro opens up exciting possibilities for the future of immersive procedural education," said Justin Barad, MD, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Osso VR. "Apple Vision Pro unlocks new opportunities to scale spatial computing in healthcare with groundbreaking display quality and virtually lag-free learning experience, helping solve important challenges to education in healthcare."

To experience the next generation of medical training on Apple Vision Pro, visit Osso Health on the App Store.

About Osso VR

Used by the world's leading healthcare institutions and medical device companies, Osso VR is a clinically validated medical training and assessment platform. Using award-winning VR content, Osso's scalable platform provides a collaborative, risk-free, hands-on training environment that drives performance and outcome improvements.

Co-founded in 2016 by UCLA and Harvard-trained pediatric orthopedic surgeon Justin Barad, MD, Osso VR has been the most celebrated virtual reality company in healthcare, earning multiple industry awards, including TIME Magazine's Best Inventions, Fast Company's Most Innovative Healthcare Company, and the SXSW Innovation Award for VR. Osso VR covers multiple medical specialties and is available in several languages in over 40 countries.

Researchers have created a humanoid robot that can predict whether a person will smile a second before they do and mimic the smile on its own face.

Although artificial intelligence can now mimic human language to an impressive degree, interactions with physical robots often fall into the “uncanny valley”, in part because robots can’t replicate the complex non-verbal cues and mannerisms that are vital for communication.

Now, with the use of high-resolution cameras and AI models, Hod Lipson of Columbia University in New York and his colleagues have developed a robot named Emo that can recognize and attempt to mimic human facial expressions. About 0.9 seconds before someone else does, it can predict if they will smile and smile in time with them. Lipson responds, “I’m a jaded roboticist, but I smile back at this robot,” says Lipson, reports TomorrowsWorldToday.

Emo is a face with cameras in its eyes and pliable plastic skin that is driven by 24 individual motors that are magnetized to one another. It makes use of two neural networks: one for analyzing and forecasting human facial expressions, and another for learning how to make its own facial expressions.

Related Round-Bodied Robot Rolls, Uses Legs to Steer

While the second network was taught by having the robot watch itself make faces on a live camera feed, the first network was trained using YouTube footage of people making faces.

“It learns what its face is going to look like when it’s going to pull all these muscles,” says Lipson. “It’s sort of like a person in front of a mirror, when even if you close your eyes and smile, you know what your face is going to look like.”

Lipson and the research team expect that ultimately, Emo's technology will enhance and add realism to human-robot interactions. In addition to teaching the robot to copy human expressions, they hope to expand its expressive repertoire and teach it to respond to spoken cues.

poLight ASA confirmed that Vuzix Shield AR smart glasses have been released for general availability in the industrial enterprise market. Besides being the world’s first binocular waveguide smart glasses implemented for industrial use, Vuzix Shield also uses TLens in its two front-facing stereo RGB autofocus cameras. With Vuzix Shield, workers can stream their view remotely, taking advantage of AI workflow optimization tools, accessing work instructions, and utilize its advanced cameras to capture photos and video, and scan barcodes.

Related LAWK ONE: AR Glasses for Outdoor Adventure

“Building our position in the AR/MR space is very important for the company,” said Dr. Øyvind Isaksen, CEO of poLight ASA. “Vuzix is a veteran in the industrial, enterprise AR market, and the Vuzix Shield product boasts state-of-the-art stereo AF cameras leveraging our TLens technology. We are very proud to be selected as an AF camera technology partner for Vuzix.”

“The poLight TLens® has enabled robust, fast, low-power consumption and constant field-of-view autofocus functionality in our HD cameras, a critical function in our revolutionary ultra-compact 3D smart glasses for the connected workforce,” said Paul Travers, President and CEO of Vuzix® Corporation, a leading supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technology and products.

About Vuzix Corporation

Vuzix is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the enterprise, medical, defense and consumer markets. The Company’s products include head-mounted smart personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable high-quality viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and augmented reality, as well OEM waveguide optical components and display engines. Founded in 1997, Vuzix is a public company with offices in Rochester, NY; Munich, Germany; and Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan.

About poLight ASA

poLight ASA offers patented, state-of-the-art tunable optics technology, leveraging its proprietary polymer and piezo MEMS technology. Founded in 2005, its first product TLens® replicates "the human eye" experience in autofocus cameras used in applications such as AR/MR devices, smartphones, wearables, webcams and other consumer devices, industrial barcode scanners and machine vision systems, and healthcare applications. poLight is based in Horten, Norway, with employees in Finland, France, UK, US, China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Packages can be tracked using a variety of techniques such as, barcodes, RFID, and other technologies. But printing Bluetooth-enabled labels is a great way to make tracking packages and other items easier.

After perfecting this technology, Reelables is already distributing millions of these smart labels. The London-based firm created a smart label that is easy to affix to things and can be automatically tracked via a mobile application. Initially working with CPI on the original concept using lithium, their smart label now allows a zinc coated battery to be fabricated directly alongside the wireless tracking circuit on a thin plastic film.

“Today, millions of Reelables’ labels are being printed and deployed around the world tracking point-to-point visibility and giving businesses a single source of truth for where their cargo is that is consistent and reliable across different modes of transport and transportation providers,” Brian Krejcarek, co-founder and CEO of Reelables, said. “Reelables’ key customers are large Fortune 500 companies. Customers are mainly logistics providers and cargo forwarders using our product for better visibility and accountability for the supply chain.”

The pandemic put a great strain on the supply chain and demonstrated the need for better visibility to prevent fraud, loss and missing items. In 2022, a global report indicated that nearly one in 10 consumers suffered parcel theft or loss during a 12-month period, equating to more than one billion packages.

Until now, tracing goods as they move through the supply chain has largely been a black box. Barcodes require manual scanning, and shipment information may need to be entered by hand at various points in the supply chain, both leading to potential human error. The result is often a mismatch between the record of information and reality. A worker could simply miss a scan or steal a package. If that’s a box of pharmaceuticals, or high-value goods, it becomes a very costly problem. Legacy GPS tracking devices are not a great alternative either as they are expensive, necessitate out-of-process workflows, and require reverse logistics.

Reelables labels automatically collect actual location data from the cellular network data and trigger events the moment a shipment arrives or departs a warehouse or waypoint, or an exception is detected. They also generate inventory counts, providing a complete warehouse audit nearly every minute or less. With Reelables, logistics providers and end users, such as retailers and manufacturers, know in real time where every piece-level item is in the supply chain with 100% accuracy.

For manufacturers or retailers who are shipping time-critical, high-value goods, and don’t control the infrastructure along their logistics corridors, Reelables 5G smart label solution is ideal. These businesses are accountable for demonstrating to their customers that items are arriving when they’ve promised.

“This is a major breakthrough when it comes to supply chain visibility and automation,” said Brian Krejcarek, CEO and Co-Founder of Reelables. “Achieving mass production and pervasive deployment of these thin film wireless smart labels will change how businesses track items, reduce theft and loss, and demonstrate accountability to their customers. We are excited to bring this to market now so retailers and manufacturers can start printing these labels at scale and lighting up under-utilized LPWAN network capacity with a killer application: tracking the billions of shipments that are made every year around the world.”

About Reelables

Reelables makes the only printable 5G label available in the world. It is the first company to achieve mass production of a brand-new category of thin film, wireless smart labels with coated batteries that are flexible enough to be printed on in off-the-shelf barcode printers and fully disposable after use. Offering both paper-thin Bluetooth and 5G smart labels, Reelables automates supply chain and logistics visibility at scale for logistics providers, retailers and manufacturers, providing exact shipment location and inventory counts for each item without the need to manually scan barcodes or read RFIDs. Its ability to track shipments and inventory at the item level helps companies reduce theft and loss and increase accountability. Reelables is headquartered in London and backed by Y Combinator and 500S.

The English Premier League has announced a four-year partnership with Rezzil, the virtual reality (VR) software developer.  

Rezzil, a Manchester-based VR software firm, specializes in the production of sports gaming software for athlete training and game analysis within virtual reality. Rezzil applications are widely used in professional football and by many Premier League clubs as well as other leagues and sports.

The Premier League and Rezzil will work together on the development of a VR game, which is expected to be launched later this year. The game will place users on the pitch and in the boots of their favourite Premier League players, offering fans a unique opportunity to recreate iconic Premier League goals and moments from within the perspective of virtual reality, reports Rezzil.

Rezzil software integrates directly with Premier League match data allowing clubs to adapt the software to re-create match scenarios and replay them through a VR headset. The software also has groundbreaking applications for broadcasters and the wider gaming market who can use the match data to bring viewers and gamers closer to the action on the pitch.  

Will Brass, the Premier League’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are excited about the ongoing development of VR technology within football. Rezzil are highly respected in the field and have developed an excellent reputation with training products that are being used by many Premier League clubs alongside leading sports teams and leagues around the world.  

Related A New Level of Immersion in Virtual Training

“The applications for this technology are expanding quickly and this partnership will see the Premier League working with Rezzil on products that can help redefine player, fan and viewer experiences.”  

The partnership will also see the Premier League take an equity stake in Rezzil. This investment will place Rezzil and the Premier League at the forefront of exciting new developments in VR and XR (Extended Reality) technology. Andy Etches, Rezzil Co-Founder, said: “We are thrilled to embark on this new partnership with the Premier League. By combining our expertise in VR technology with the unparalleled excitement of Premier League football, we are looking forward to supporting the Premier League’s fan and player engagement ambitions. Working hand in hand together, we’re poised to bring VR technology to football in ways never seen before.”

A researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign created a robot inspired by the wheel-bodied battle droids from Star Wars. The robot can roll along on one big wheel, using extendable legs to steer. Dubbed Ringbot, the robot created by Assoc. Prof. Joohyung Kim and colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, could one day used for making deliveries.

What inspired Kim was not just Star Wars, but he took ideas from the various full-size monowheels that have been created over the years.

In a monowheel, the rider is seated on a motorized platform that is supported by a ring-shaped rail that encircles the interior of a single, large wheel. The wheel rolls around the platform, keeping it level with the ground and propelling the vehicle ahead.

Related AI Robot Dog Tackles Complex Obstacle Courses

Actually, Kim also drew inspiration from "wheeled-foot" robots, such ANYmal from ETH Zurich, which has motorized wheels attached to the tips of all four of its legs.

In fact, Kim also took inspiration from "wheeled-foot" robots such as ETH Zurich's ANYmal, which has motorized wheels on the ends of each of its four legs. Those wheels allow the robot to travel like a car, rapidly and effectively, on smooth surfaces. But while the robot is walking on rough ground, the wheels lock together to act as feet.

The Ringbot has a 515 mm-diameter wheel with a solid elastomer tire wrapped around a nylon/carbon composite rim. There are two motorized driving modules located inside the rim one-in-front-of-the-other.

A stretchable curly cord connects those modules with one another, and the modules hold the surface of the rim through small cog wheels of their own. Each module also has an articulated robotic leg on top, which can extend out to the side pointing up or down, reports NewAtlas.

Described as being like two hamsters running in an exercise wheel, the Ringbot's wheel start to rotate around the modules when they start to spin up their cogs.

They automatically modify their distance from one another to alter the robot's lateral center of mass as necessary to keep it balanced when moving at various speeds. When it's time to turn left or right, one or the other module will extend its leg outwards to shift the bot's balance to that side.

In addition, the legs can be deployed down to the ground in order to hold the Ringbot up when it's stopped, and to turn it around on the spot before it restarts travel. Like a motorcyclist placing his foot down on a road, the legs also prevent it from toppling over in the event of an imbalance. If the robot ends up flat on one side against the ground, the legs can even raise it back up.

The Ringbot was operated by a human operator via remote control in indoor tests, reaching a maximum speed of 5 km/h (3 mph).

"In big cities, many bikes and motorcycles navigate through traffic to fulfill delivery needs, thanks to their ability to maneuver through narrow spaces," said Kim. "We plan to enhance Ringbot's capabilities specifically for last-mile deliveries in congested settings, aiming to automate and optimize delivery processes."

Imagine a sneaker that illuminates in interesting patterns in response to music. As futuristic as that may sound, adidas AG and Infineon Technologies AG have actually made shoes just like that.

The Infineon Lighting Shoe is a prototype that illustrates and brings to life the effect of state-of-the-art semiconductor technology in a fashion product. Thanks to the high-quality XENSIV MEMS microphones, the shoe can hear the finest acoustic signals. An integrated PSoC microcontroller processes the audio input. The EZ-PD Barrel Connector Replacement (BCR) solution allows the shoe to be charged using USB-C Power Delivery (PD) in combination with high-efficiency OptiMOS power MOSFETs. The adidas originals NMD S1 offers the perfect fit and enough space to place the highly sensitive technology components inside without compromising comfort.

Related In-Shoe Foot Function and Gait Analysis System

With this prototype, Infineon and adidas illustrate how technology is combined with style. "Contextual Awareness through Intuitive Sensing makes it easier to use IoT gadgets – when the devices can hear, see or feel through technology. The Infineon Lighting Shoe is a unique example showing how technology and digitalization can be brought closer to people. We are proud to have worked with adidas to implement this innovation collaboration," said Adam White, Division President Power & Sensor Systems at Infineon.

“When we create innovations, they must be mind-blowing, go beyond the normal, surprise and above all: be fun,” said Burkhard Dümler, director innovation at adidas. “With the Lighting Shoe prototype, we have succeeded in this in our collaboration with Infineon. We show that technology and style complement each other to create a digital product, reports Printed Electronics.

“The Infineon Lighting Shoe is based on high-tech effects – the combination of microphones, microcontrollers and LEDs – it is the only shoe that can ‘hear’ music and react with light effects according to the beats,” Manuel Hollfelder, senior manager solution & applications synergies, Infineon Technologies AG, said. “With this prototype, we illustrate how technology is combined with style.”

“With the Lighting Shoe prototype, we show that technology and style complement each other to create a digital product,” added Alexander Wisgickl, director of global partnership and ecosystem management, Infineon. “And we are proud to have worked with adidas to implement this innovation collaboration.”

If you want to buy the Infineon Lighting Shoe, you will have to wait bit.

“The shoe is a prototype, so it is not for sale,” Hollfelder said. “We are showcasing it at different events or tradeshow. The shoe has already travelled from Germany to Singapore to the States and back to Infineon headquarters in Munich.”

Researchers have developed an app for the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset that allows users to operate a robot exclusively with hand and head movements. It might be used to remotely operate devices in a variety of situations, such as pulling practical jokes or navigating a disaster area.

Younghyo Park, the app's developer and MIT doctorate student, posted a video of the application in use on X, formerly known as Twitter. The MIT graduate student and co-author of the study, Gabe Margolis, walks viewers through the operation of the app in the video below. You can see how he uses his hands and body to operate the four-legged robot, reports TomorrowsWorldToday.

Margolis gives the robot instructions to use its gripper to open a closed door and let herself in while showcasing how the software functions. Furthermore, Margolis directs the robot to retrieve a piece of trash and dispose of it in the trash. In another scene in the video, the robot imitates Margolis's movements by bending down when he does.

Related Apple Vision Pro Used in Spinal Surgery

Although the Apple Vision Pro has many benefits, it is not without its drawbacks. There are limitations in confined areas like elevators and moving cars because the gadget depends on movements. In order to guarantee precise tracking, users also need to be mindful of hand location. For instance, when a user's hands are at their waist or by their sides, tracking is restricted.

Still, scientists think that fusing robots with the Apple Vision Pro has a lot of potential. According to Park and Margolis' paper, using the Apple Vision Pro longer yields more data that can be used to train robots to move. It is said that more functionality for robotic applications are planned.

Researchers at the University of California, Merced have created a flexible, electrically conductive substance that may eventually increase the robustness of wearable technology, such as smartwatches.

The novel material demonstrates adaptive durability, which means that it gets stronger in response to strain or impact. The material was, strangely enough, inspired in the kitchen.

Yue (Jessica) Wang, the project's primary investigator, observes that the mixture travels easily through a mixing spoon when cornstarch and water are combined slowly. You get a different result if you take the spoon out and try to shove it back in. According to Wang, "it's like stabbing a hard surface," and the spoon does not retract.

Related Printed and Flexible Sensor Market Poised to Grow

Wang's team wanted to create a solid, electrically conductive material with this intriguing feature.

The team had to determine the ideal mixture of conjugated polymers—long, conductive molecules with a spaghetti-like shape—in order to achieve their objective. The majority of flexible polymers shatter when struck hard, quickly, or repeatedly.

An aqueous solution containing four polymers was initially used by the researchers: shorter polyaniline molecules, spaghetti-like poly(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid), and a conductive mixture known as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS).

Along the process, they made adjustments to the formula to increase adaptability and conductivity. For example, adding 10% more PEDOT:PSS increased the mixture's conductivity and adaptive durability.

The group also experimented with incorporating tiny molecules into the mixture, observing the effects of each addition on the properties of the polymers. In the end, additives with positively charged nanoparticles best enhanced adaptive functionality, reports TechSpot.

"Adding the positively charged molecules to our material made it even stronger at higher stretch rates," says Di Wu, a postdoctoral researcher in Wang's lab.

Integrated bands and rear sensors for smartwatches that might readily survive the demanding environment of a person's daily life on their wrist are examples of practical uses. Additionally, the flexible material may find use in the medical industry, where it might be integrated into wearable medical devices such as glucose monitors or cardiovascular sensors.

In order to illustrate the material's potential for usage as a prosthetic, Wu and colleagues even modified a previous version of the material that is appropriate for 3D printing and produced a facsimile of a human hand.

"There are a number of potential applications, and we're excited to see where this new, unconventional property will take us," Wang said.

Although the term "exoskeleton" may conjure up futuristic visions from science fiction films like as Alien and Avatar, the technology is gradually approaching reality. Exoskeletons have been tested to help soldiers carry heavy packs for extended periods of time, minimize injuries in auto manufacturers, and even help Parkinson's patients maintain their mobility.

Researchers are working on real-life robotic assistance that could protect workers from painful injuries and help stroke patients regain their mobility. So far, they have required extensive calibration and context-specific tuning, which keeps them largely limited to research labs.

Mechanical engineers at Georgia Tech may be on the verge of changing that, allowing exoskeleton technology to be deployed in homes, workplaces, and more, reports EurekaAlert.

A team of researchers in Aaron Young’s lab have developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users can don the “exo” and go.

Their system uses a kind of artificial intelligence called deep learning to autonomously adjust how the exoskeleton provides assistance, and they’ve shown it works seamlessly to support walking, standing, and climbing stairs or ramps. They described their “unified control framework” March 20 in Science Robotics.

“The goal was not just to provide control across different activities, but to create a single unified system. You don't have to press buttons to switch between modes or have some classifier algorithm that tries to predict that you're climbing stairs or walking,” said Young, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

Machine Learning as Translator

Most previous work in this area has focused on one activity at a time, like walking on level ground or up a set of stairs. The algorithms involved typically try to classify the environment to provide the right assistance to users.

The Georgia Tech team threw that out the window. Instead of focusing on the environment, they focused on the human — what’s happening with muscles and joints — which meant the specific activity didn’t matter.

Related New Exoskeleton Helping Disabled Walk, Stand

With the controller delivering assistance through a hip exoskeleton developed by the team, they found they could reduce users’ metabolic and biomechanical effort: they expended less energy, and their joints didn’t have to work as hard compared to not wearing the device at all.

In other words, wearing the exoskeleton was a benefit to users, even with the extra weight added by the device itself.

“What’s so cool about this is that it adjusts to each person's internal dynamics without any tuning or heuristic adjustments, which is a huge difference from a lot of work in the field,” Young said. “There's no subject-specific tuning or changing parameters to make it work.”

The control system in this study is designed for partial-assist devices. These exoskeletons support movement rather than completely replacing the effort.
The team, which also included Molinaro and Inseung Kang, another former Ph.D. student now at Carnegie Mellon University, used an existing algorithm and trained it on mountains of force and motion-capture data they collected in Young’s lab. Subjects of different genders and body types wore the powered hip exoskeleton and walked at varying speeds on force plates, climbed height-adjustable stairs, walked up and down ramps, and transitioned between those movements.

And like the motion-capture studios used to make movies, every movement was recorded and cataloged to understand what joints were doing for each activity.

The Science Robotics study is “application agnostic,” as Young put it. Yet their controller offers the first bridge to real-world viability for robotic exoskeleton devices.

Imagine how robotic assistance could benefit soldiers, airline baggage handlers, or any workers doing physically demanding jobs where musculoskeletal injury risk is high.

In the ever-evolving world of medical wearable technologies, there is one technology that stands out, the GyroGlove. Approximately 200 million people worldwide suffer from lifelong, incurable hand tremor diseases such as Parkinson's disease.

That's why GyroGear has designed the world's most advanced hand tremor stabilizer, which is the first mechanical gyroscope medical device. The GyroGlove uses a powerful gyroscope to stabilize the user's hand so that tremors can be slowed down. This can significantly improve the user's quality of life.

The GyroGlove is a major innovation in this field, as current therapies are ineffective, drugs have significant side effects and surgical interventions are very risky.

About GyroGear

GyroGear was founded in 2016 with the mission to alleviate tremor problems and build a future free of tremor restrictions. GyroGear has also won seven Innovation Awards at CES 2024, including awards for Accessibility and Aging Tech, Digital Health and Wearable Technologies.

With a new US$5 million fundraising, a medical technology offshoot from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore hopes to increase the availability of its rehabilitation services in the US.

The startup, named Synphne, seeks to enhance the management of neurological disorders and strokes.

Related Cala Health's Neurostimulation System Treats Parkinson's

The company's main offering is a wearable gadget that helps those recovering from brain injuries and diseases like strokes. It intends to target markets such as Singapore and India in addition to the US.

HOW IT WORKS

The platform measures an individual's brain and muscle activity, which are also shown in near real-time to their therapists through in-person sessions or remotely guided tele-sessions. This data will allow them to personalize the patient's therapy by appropriate difficulty level, speed, and duration.

SynPhNe can also help enhance cognition and balance for some brain-muscle dysfunctions by mimicking how babies learn. Additionally, it can potentially improve hand function by up to 70% within 6-8 weeks and train children with learning difficulties to improve reading, comprehension, and writing within eight weeks, reports MobiHealthNews.

An affiliate of the Nadathur Group, Event Horizon Technologies, is one of the company's investors in the series A round. Nadathur Raghavan, a co-founder of Infosys, a consulting and digital services company, runs the organization as his family office.

The National Research Foundation, the National Medical Research Council, and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology are just a few of the Singaporean research and enterprise initiatives that have supported Synphne since it was first established under the NTUitive program.

The fashion business is continually changing in terms of trends and designs. Our bodies too undergo continuous modification. An innovative clothing created by MIT adapts to those changes with the aid of smart technology. The outfit changes to reflect your style, figure, and the ever-evolving fashion trends.

Fresh out of MIT’s Architecture Department, Sasha McKinlay sees it as a sustainable fashion revolution. “We’re trying to give people a way to express themselves through clothes that last,” she says, “Not just a season, but years.”

Related Smart Hat Senses Traffic Light Change

“It’s a human need. But there’s also the human need to express oneself. I like the idea of customizing clothes in a sustainable way. This dress promises to be more sustainable than traditional fashion to both the consumer and the producer.”

For the creation of the dress, McKinlay collaborated with the Ministry of Supply, a high-tech fashion company. The dress incorporates a number of various technologies to ensure that it fits a person perfectly. Heat-activated yarn is used as the primary technology material. The garment can be worn in many ways thanks to the heat-activated yarn. It can go from pintucks to pleats or tightened waste, for instance. This allows the garment to be customized to fit an individual's style, reports TomorrowsWorldToday.

The founder of MIT's Self-Assembly Lab believes that the fashion business has a few issues. According to Skylar Tibbits, mass-produced clothing is not distinctive, but bodies are. Tibbits said, “Everyone’s body is different,” and “Even if you wear the same size as another person, you’re not the same.” “Fast fashion” is also a growing issue where clothes are made cheap, worn briefly, and then thrown out.

They discovered a way to use heat to make sure the dress fits people of different shapes and sizes with the assistance of robotics specialist Danny Griffin. The "smart" yarn in the dress is activated by heat, allowing it to change styles. To do this, they employ a robot-guided heat gun. “It’s like tailoring performed by a machine,” Griffin explained, “Except you can redo it whenever you want a fresh look.”

The dress may be made to change by applying heat. It's a creative, eco-friendly piece of apparel that maintains its "fashion" without sacrificing sustainability. Tibbits said, “Right now when people purchase a piece of clothing it has only one ‘look.’ But, how exciting would it be to purchase one garment and reinvent it to change and evolve as you change or as the seasons or styles change? I’m hoping that’s the takeaway that people will have.”

Apple's Vision Pro headset assisted a surgical team at a UK hospital in performing a medical procedure. A team at Cromwell Hospital in London utilized the mixed-reality headgear to help with two microsurgical spine procedures.

The Daily Mail stated that while surgeons Fady Sedra and Syed Aftab were on the team, a scrub nurse was the one wearing the headset to support them.

The hospital was introduced to the device by eXeX, which provides tech platforms to hospitals, reports Business Insider.

Consultant orthopedic spinal surgeon Aftab stated, "Using the Apple Vision Pro with eXeX has greatly improved the way we treat our patients." The Complex Spine team is now more productive because to the software, which runs smoothly."

According to an Apple press release, a number of healthcare applications that are compatible with the headset have been available since the US launch of Apple's Vision Pro device last month.

Among these, Mako SmartRobotics from Stryker created an app specifically for doctors performing knee and hip surgeries.

In the meanwhile, Cedars-Sinai offers patients an app that offers mental health support through deep breathing exercises and meditation, while Fundamental Surgery delivers surgical training via virtual reality.

Related New Partnership Aims to Detect Brain Disorder Using Virtual Reality

In the news release, Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of worldwide developer relations, stated: "We're thrilled to see the incredible apps that developers across the healthcare community are bringing to Apple Vision Pro."

According to CNBC, surgery preparation has also been done using Meta's virtual reality gear. In a simulated treatment in 2022, physicians at Kettering Health Dayton in Ohio utilized the Quest 2 headgear to simulate a shoulder replacement in three dimensions, according to CNBC.

Hospital operator Universal Health Services claims that virtual reality (VR) tools can assist surgeons in examining a patient's anatomy before to an operation, "much like a pilot uses a flight simulator."

Just a week after announcing five new luxury smartwatches in MARQ Series, Garmin unveiled another stylish smartwatch that’s designed especially for golfers. The Approach S40 is a stylish and lightweight GPS smartwatch, featuring a vibrant 1.2-inch color touchscreen display that’s sunlight-readable for everyday use and a metal bezel to bolster its elegant design.

Related Garmin Announces MARQ Series: Five New Luxury Smartwatches with Various Features

Adjustable quick release bands come in different colors. The Approach S40 integrates AutoShot Game Tracking to measure and auto-record a golfer’s detected shot distance for a more focused gaming experience. The highly responsive GPS receiver conveniently locks in on a golfer’s location and displays precise yardages to the front, middle and back of the green, hazards, doglegs and more. It also gives golfers access to over 41,000 preloaded courses from around the world.

“The hallmark of the new Approach S40 is its superb ability to offer high-quality functionality on the course as well as off the course,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin worldwide vice president of consumer sales. “The Approach S40 looks great on your wrist and gives golfers exactly what they need with a mix of high-sensitivity GPS golf accuracy on the course, and top-notch smartwatch capabilities that track everyday activities.”

Golfers also can explore an in-depth golf feature set directly from their wrist. Veterans or novice players can strategically use the Green View feature to help enhance their golf accuracy by manually dragging-and-dropping the day’s pin location on the display to gain precise yardage, the company said in a press release.

The watch can also be used to see digital scorecards with Stableford scoring. Golfers can automatically upload these scorecards to the free Garmin Golf™ app. Once the app is downloaded, they can take advantage of automatic course updates, and even review stats in real time during play or after a round with a compatible smartphone.

The rechargeable battery in the S40 lasts 15 hours on the course, and up to 10 days in smartwatch mode. A bundled version of the watch adds a three-pack of Approach CT10 club sensors that can be paired for additional automatic game tracking capabilities.

Related GolfLogix Apple Watch App Provides Golfers with Yardages, Green Images, Hole Selection and More

The Approach S40 also provides resourceful activity tracking features such as steps, sleep and built-in multisport profiles for fitness initiatives.

The Approach S40 is available now with a suggested retail price of $299.99, and the Approach S40 Bundle is $349.99.

Researchers have developed a photoacoustic imaging watch for high-resolution imaging of blood vessels in the skin. The wearable device could offer a non-invasive way to monitor hemodynamic indicators such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation that can indicate how well a person's heart is working.

"Although photoacoustic imaging is extremely sensitive to variations in hemodynamics, difficulties in miniaturizing and optimizing the imaging interface have limited the development of wearable photoacoustic devices," said research team leader Lei Xi from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first photoacoustic wearable device that is suitable for healthcare applications."

In the Optica Publishing Group journal Optics Letters, the researchers describe their new system, which consists of a watch with an imaging interface, a handheld computer and a backpack housing the laser and power supply. Tests with volunteers moving freely showed that the device can be used to observe blood flow variations during different activities such as walking.

"Miniaturized wearable imaging systems like the one we developed could potentially be used by community health centers for preliminary disease diagnosis or for long-term monitoring of parameters related to blood circulation within a hospital setting, offering valuable insights to inform treatments for various diseases," said Xi. "With further development this type of system could also be helpful for the early detection of skin conditions such as psoriasis and melanoma or for analyzing burns."

Creating a wearable imager

Photoacoustic imaging is a label-free technique that forms images by measuring light-induced sound waves created by light absorption in structures. Analyzing the photoacoustic signal intensity and distribution offers insights into the functional and structural characteristics of microvessels, which can be altered by various diseases. Although photoacoustic imaging is still primarily a research tool, it is beginning to find clinical application in areas such as cancer, vascular and dermatological imaging.

To turn what is typically a bulky instrument into something that could be worn while moving around, the researchers developed a compact optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy system based on a compact pulsed laser, tight fiber-based light path and an integrated electronic system housed in a backpack weighing 7 kilograms. They also designed a handheld device to store the images and created a miniaturized watch-type imaging interface with an adjustable focal plane and a screen display for displaying the images in real time.

Read more Blood Pressure measuring E-Tattoo

The researchers designed the system so that it could be used for imaging while the wearer is freely moving around. It also features an adaptable laser focus, which is necessary for imaging multilayered structures like skin. The photoacoustic imaging system has a lateral resolution of 8.7 µm, which is sufficient to resolve most microvessels in the skin and a maximum field of view of around 3 mm in diameter, which is adequate for capturing microvascular details.

Tracking blood on the move

The researchers tested the device with volunteers to evaluate the focus shifting function of the watch and the system's capacity to detect blood flow changes over an extended time under different conditions, such as while the wearer was walking and when a cuff was used to temporarily block blood flow to the arm. These tests showed that the system is usable and compact and stable enough to allow free movement.

The researchers are now working to create a system that employs an even smaller laser source with a higher repetition rate. This will make the system more compact and lighter while also enhancing safety and temporal resolution. "Given the rapid development of modern laser diode technology and electronic information technology, it should be entirely feasible to develop a more advanced and intelligent photoacoustic watch that doesn't require a backpack," said Xi.

The researchers are also working to ensure the stability of the fiber-coupled optical path over extended periods and under more intense conditions such as running and jumping. They also want to incorporate multispectral illumination, which would allow the acquisition of additional physiological parameters including oxygen saturation and blood flow velocity and the quantitative assessment of parameters such as vessel number and volume. These capabilities could help support early diagnosis of conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Although acrobatic robot displays seem like a wonderful marketing gimmick, they are usually well planned and expertly rehearsed. A four-legged AI robot has now been trained by researchers to navigate challenging, never-before-seen obstacle courses in practical settings.

The real world's inherent complexity, the quantity of information robots can gather about it, and the speed at which judgments must be made to perform dynamic motions make building nimble robots difficult.

Organizations such as Boston Dynamics have frequently published films of their robots performing a variety of tasks, including parkour and dancing. Even while these achievements are astounding, they usually require people to laboriously program each step or repeatedly practice in extremely controlled situations, reports Edd Gent in Singularity Hub.

The ability to apply abilities in the real world is severely limited by this approach. However, using machine learning, researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland have taught their robot dog, ANYmal, a set of fundamental locomotive skills. With these skills learned, the dog can now navigate a wide range of difficult obstacle courses both indoors and outdoors at up to 4.5 miles per hour.

After segmenting the problem into three sections, the researchers allocated a neural network to each part in order to develop a system that was both adaptable and capable. Initially, they developed a perception module that builds an image of the terrain and any obstructions in it using data from lidar and cameras.

Related Robot Completes Surgery in Space

They integrated this with a locomotion module that has picked up a wide range of abilities, such as jumping, climbing, crouching, and climbing down, to help it get over various barriers. Ultimately, these modules were combined with a navigation module that could determine which abilities to use to overcome each obstacle and plot a path through a sequence of them.

Instead of using human examples throughout the training process, the researchers exclusively used reinforcement learning, or trial and error. This allowed them to train the AI model on a huge number of randomized scenarios without having to manually label each one.

The fact that the robot uses chips that are implanted within it rather than relying on external computers is another amazing aspect. The researchers also demonstrated that ANYmal could overcome falls or slides in order to finish the obstacle course, in addition to being capable of handling a wide range of conditions.

Nevertheless, the research shows that robots are getting better at functioning in challenging real-world settings. That implies that they might soon be considerably more noticeable everywhere.