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Details of clinical trials utilising Cyberkinetics electrode arrays to record neuronal activity in the motor cortex and control a cursor, open and close a prosthetic hand, operate a robotic arm, and, most importantly, play Pong.
Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia (Nature 442, 164-171) |
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Are you an engineer, inventor, tinkerer or merely a tad precocious with the screwdriver? Do you wonder what lurks beneath that anti-tamper sticker? Let the world know that you shouldn’t be left alone with brand new electronics, appliances or automobiles.
Guys is $16, and Girls $17, plus shipping. Available here.
If you’d like a variation on the above designs, let me know and I’ll do my best to accomodate you. And if there is sufficient Australian interest, I’ll order a large run and ship them via Aussie Post to keep the cost down.
Here is a very promising new device from ChipCon, the CC2510. It combines a 2.4GHz radio and 8051-based microcontroller into a tiny 36 pin 6×6mm package. The microcontroller is loaded with peripherals, including real time clock, two USARTS, an ADC and 21 pins of general IO. The only other major required component is a 26MHz crystal. It looks to be a great device for hobbyists, for robotics, home automation, or any microcontroller project where a wireless link is required.
While it’s not overly expensive, it is presently difficult to acquire in low quantities. In addition, inexpensive and user-friendly development tools like libraries and programmers have yet to materialise.
Nonetheless, hopefully with a little time this family of devices (see 1, 2) will make wireless connectivity cheap and easy for DIY projects. It’ll be all the more powerful when the 802.15.4/ZigBee protocol gains acceptance, facilitating ubiquitous mesh networks.
It’s recently dawned on me that I’ve gone nine months without a blog post. There are two reasons for this. Foremost, being a full time student, and employed on the side, I have little free time. Secondly, I’m very self-conscious about what I write. Most blogs are bloated and trite. And that’s understandable — it takes a great deal of effort to contribute something worthwhile, to publish well-researched and succint repartee, analysis or even unadulterated news. Unless it’s on a light weight or construction-oriented subject, I’m rarely satisfied with what I write.
That leaves me in somewhat of a dilemma. No time to generate a continual stream of original content, yet unwilling to babble on about what I had for dinner or my personal reaction to popular current affairs. Meanwhile, this website lays idle, a waste of hosting fees.
So, I’m going to change my approach. The rationale being that I have certain niche areas of interest that expose me to things worth aggregating. Engineering, neuroscience, psychology, and so forth. Things that reflect upon what I study, what I build, and more generally the spoils of spending too much time on the internet.
In a practical sense, this means I’m going to focus less on my own writing and research, and more on reporting that of others. I hope in the coming months you find something of interest!