Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 1 May 2013 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110223/02295713225/dailydirt-wheelchairs.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110223/02295713225/dailydirt-wheelchairs.shtml 6 million people in the US living with some form of paralysis. Despite some controversy, the FDR memorial has a statue of the president sitting in a wheelchair. Wheelchairs have been around for over a hundred years, but technology could improve how they work. Here are just a few examples.

• The Tongue Drive System allows users to control their wheelchairs via tongue movements. This prototype requires a "clinical" tongue piercing and a dental retainer, so maybe a camera system would be a nice improvement. [url]
• Tek RMD is a robotic mobilization device that might replace a wheelchair and give paraplegics the ability to move around upright. It's not quite a powered exoskeleton, and it can't do stairs, but it's an interesting robotic alternative to a wheelchair (even though it costs a lot more). [url]
• A wheelchair from Kyoto University called the Permoveh has omnidirectional wheels, so it can move more freely and turn on a dime. The prototype has a top speed of 3.7 mph and costs over $36,000, but future models are expected to be cheaper. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110223/02295713225 Fri, 5 Oct 2012 17:00:00 PDT Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100928/22581211205/dailydirt-accounting-taste.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100928/22581211205/dailydirt-accounting-taste.shtml

Many animals, including cats and dolphins, can't taste sweet things. It turns out that a large number of carnivores can't taste sugars because they have non-working versions of the genes responsible for making sugar receptors on the tongue. [url]

Researchers are working on developing artificial tongues that can mimic the human taste response to various flavors. However, to fully reproduce the experience of taste requires the development of an artifical nose, because a large part of "taste" is actually due to smell. [url]

The elusive "salt receptor" is unlike the receptors for all the other tastes, and figuring it out is complicated by the fact that sodium is essential for life but can kill you at high enough doses. (Apparently, it takes only a few mouthfuls of salt water from the Dead Sea to kill a person.) Researchers now believe that there are two receptors or mechanisms involved in tasting salt -- one that makes salt desirable and another (the elusive one) that makes it undesirable at high concentrations. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100928/22581211205 Thu, 19 May 2011 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/11002912994/dailydirt-you-cant-be-two-places-once-yet.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110207/11002912994/dailydirt-you-cant-be-two-places-once-yet.shtml

The Vgo telepresence platform has gotten some publicity for letting a "bubble boy" student go to high school using a remote-controlled robot. A lot of people would probably have enjoyed high school more if they didn't actually attend in person... [url]

Anybots has created another telepresence robot that could let more folks "work from home" using a friendly bot. But if everyone uses one of these at work, why have an office? [url]

A hovering balloon could become a telepresence robot, too. And a floating balloon robot has the advantage of being able to float up stairs and being able to navigate challenging terrains quietly. [url]

There may be a largely untapped industry for remote-controlled disembodied body parts. A robot tongue probably isn't the killer app for this market, though. [url]

To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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