Disabled Patients Mind-Meld With Robots

José del R. Millán from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has created a telepresence robot able to be controlled by people suffering from Locked-in Syndrome.

While disabled humans have been controlling computers with their brains for some time, the innovation is in how the system shares tasks with the human. Millán's robot is designed to maneuver and avoid obstacles on its own mimicking humans intrinsic locomotive skills. This allows the human to focus on higher level goals like choosing a target.

The researchers recruited two patients whose lower bodies were paralyzed and who had been bed bound for 6 or 7 years. The researchers trained the patients to control the robot for 1 hour per week for 6 weeks. With the instructions being transmitted over a wireless connection, the patients didn't need to leave the hospital and were able to control the robot in Millán's lab at EPFL, 100 kilometers away. At the end of the training period, the researchers instructed the subjects to drive the robot to various targets, such as furniture, people, and small objects, around the lab for 12 minutes.

Inspiring work.

will.i.am And Dean Kamen Team Up For i.am.FIRST

I was on my Segway and I was thinking about all the innovation and imagination it took to create that. So I called a friend Ron Conway, like, 'Yo, do you know who invented this?' He was like, 'A good friend of mine, Dean Kamen.' I was like, 'You know this guy? Can you introduce me to him?' So he introduced me to him via email, and that's when he told me about U.S. FIRST. He was like, 'I've got this program that I've been doing for 20 years, teaching kids science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- and we have robotics competitions every year.' I aid, 'How come I've never heard of that?' He was like, 'That's the problem.' So I said, 'Well, if you have a robotics competition every year, we're performing at the Super Bowl, maybe we could perform, make a halftime show at your robotics competition.'

So will.i.am went to ABC, pitched the show, and bought the airtime himself to show a robotics competition in prime time in hopes of inspiring kids to learn.

No one has talked more shit about the Black Eyed Peas than me. I'm going to stop right now. I can't wait to see the show.