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Category: robotics/AI – Page 839

One hour of training is all you need to control a third robotic arm

A new study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Imperial College London and The University of Melbourne has found that people can learn to use supernumerary robotic arms as effectively as working with a partner in just one hour of training.

The study, published in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, investigated the potential of supernumerary robotic arms to help people perform tasks that require more than two hands. The idea of human augmentation with additional artificial limbs has long been featured in science fiction, like in Doctor Octopus in The Amazing Spider-Man (1963).

“Many tasks in , such as opening a door while carrying a big package, require more than two hands,” said Dr. Ekaterina Ivanova, lead author of the study from Queen Mary University of London. “Supernumerary robotic arms have been proposed as a way to allow people to do these tasks more easily, but until now, it was not clear how easy they would be to use.”

Artificial Intelligence Improves Brain Tumor Diagnosis

Neurosurgeons can leave the operating room more confident today than ever before about their patient’s brain tumor diagnosis, thanks to the integration of a new system that employs optical imaging and artificial intelligence that are making brain tumor diagnosis quicker and more accurate. This technology is allowing them to quickly see diagnostic tissue and tumor margins in near-real time.

For the full story, visit: http://michmed.org/gk8ZD

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A Silicon Valley Supergroup Is Coming Together to Create an A.I. Device

Since founding OpenAI in 2015, Sam Altman has spent many days thinking that the company’s generative artificial-intelligence products need a new kind of device to succeed. Since leaving Apple in 2019, Jony Ive, the designer behind the iPhone, iPod and MacBook Air, has been considering what the next great computing device could be.

Now, the two men and their companies are teaming up to develop a device that would succeed the smartphone and deliver the benefits of A.I. in a new form factor, unconstrained by the rectangular screen that has been the dominant computing tool of the past decade, according to two people familiar with the discussions…

“…Many tech executives believe the technology has the power to introduce a new paradigm in computing that they call “ambient computing.” Rather than typing on smartphones and taking photographs, they imagine a future device in the form of something as simple as a pendant or glasses that can process the world in real time, using a sophisticated virtual assistant capable of fielding questions and processing images.”

OpenAI’s Sam Altman, the former Apple designer Jony Ive and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son are teaming up to develop a device that could replace the smartphone.

Machine learning model able to detect signs of Alzheimer’s across languages

The University of Alberta is 3rd in the world for AI research.

Researchers meet the challenge of developing a model that uses speech traits to detect cognitive decline, paving the way for a potential screening tool.

Researchers are striving to make earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia possible with a machine learning (ML) model that could one day be turned into a simple screening tool anyone with a smartphone could use.

The model was able to distinguish Alzheimer’s patients from healthy controls with 70 to 75 per cent accuracy, a promising figure for the more than 747,000 Canadians who have Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.

A machine learning model able to screen individuals with Alzheimer’s dementia from individuals without it by examining speech traits typically observed among people with the disease could one day become a tool that makes earlier diagnosis possible.

AI-powered brain implants restore touch and movement to paralysed man

In a world first, a quadriplegic man in the United States has regained touch and movement after surgeons successfully implanted microchips into his brain.

AI is then used to read, interpret and translate his thoughts into action.

Keith Thomas, 45, broke his neck in an accident and became paralysed from his chest down.

‘Fooling the nervous system to make it work’

Dr Ashesh Mehta, the surgeon who performed Thomas’ brain surgery said the wiring in Thomas’ brain was “broken”.

The surgical team had to rewire the pathways where electrical signals are sent between the brain, the body and the spinal cord.

Continue reading “AI-powered brain implants restore touch and movement to paralysed man” | >

Yale scientists reveal two paths to autism in the developing brain

The findings were published Aug. 10 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

“It’s amazing that children with the same symptoms end up with two distinct forms of altered neural networks,” said Dr. Flora Vaccarino, the Harris Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine and co-senior author of the paper.

Two distinct neurodevelopmental abnormalities that arise just weeks after the start of brain development have been associated with the emergence of autism spectrum disorder, according to a new Yale-led study in which researchers developed brain organoids from the stem cells of boys diagnosed with the disorder.

And, researchers say, the specific abnormalities seem to be dictated by the size of the child’s brain, a finding that could help doctors and researchers to diagnosis and treat autism in the future.

Robotic Exoskeletons and Neurorehabilitation for Acquired Brain Injury: Determining the Potential for Recovery of Overground Walking

A team of New Jersey researchers reviewed the evidence for the impact of robotic exoskeleton devices on recovery of ambulation among individuals with acquired brain injury, laying out a systematic framework for the evaluation of such devices that is needed for rigorous research studies. The open access article, “Lower extremity robotic exoskeleton devices for overground ambulation recovery in acquired brain injury – A review” (doi: 10.3389/fnbot.2023/1014616), was published May 25, 2023 in Frontiers in Neurorobotics.

New Jersey researchers provide framework for evaluating lower extremity robotic exoskeletons and their role in neurorehabilitation following acquired brain injury East Hanover, NJ. August 14, 2023.

AI models are powerful, but are they biologically plausible?

About six years ago, scientists discovered a new type of more powerful neural network model known as a transformer. These models can achieve unprecedented performance, such as by generating text from prompts with near-human-like accuracy. A transformer underlies AI systems such as ChatGPT and Bard, for example. While incredibly effective, transformers are also mysterious: Unlike with other -inspired neural network models, it hasn’t been clear how to build them using biological components.

Now, researchers from MIT, the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and Harvard Medical School have produced a hypothesis that may explain how a transformer could be built using biological elements in the brain. They suggest that a biological network composed of neurons and other called astrocytes could perform the same core computation as a transformer.

Human Brain Project celebrates successful conclusion

HBP researchers have employed highly advanced methods from computing, neuroinformatics and artificial intelligence in a truly integrative approach to understanding the brain as a multi-level system.

The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) comes to an end in September and celebrates its successful conclusion today with a scientific symposium at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ). The HBP was one of the first flagship projects and, with 155 cooperating institutions from 19 countries and a total budget of 607 million euros, one of the largest research projects in Europe. Forschungszentrum Jülich, with its world-leading brain research institute and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, played an important role in the ten-year project.

“Understanding the complexity of the human brain and explaining its functionality are major challenges of brain research today”, says Astrid Lambrecht, Chair of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich. “The instruments of brain research have developed considerably in the last ten years. The Human Brain Project has been instrumental in driving this development — and not only gained new insights for brain research, but also provided important impulses for information technologies.”