German researchers have built an anthropomorphic robot hand that can endure collisions with hard objects and even strikes from a hammer without breaking into pieces.
In designing the new hand system, researchers at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), focused on robustness. They may have just built the toughest robot hand yet.
The DLR hand has the shape and size of a human hand, with five articulated fingers powered by a web of 38 tendons, each connected to an individual motor on the forearm.
A Taiwanese research team, led by Prof. Ming-Shing Young of Department of Electrical Engineering at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), has successfully developed a large-scale proactive cancer treatment system first-generation prototype which includes Frequency-Adjustable High Frequency Induction Heating Machine (HFIHM) and 3D Magnetically Guiding Endoscope System (3DMGES).
Biotechnology is one of the emerging industries in Taiwan that emphasizes on the research and development of new medicine and medical equipments. From the economic perspective, the possibility of Taiwan successfully developing medical equipments is greater than the possibility of Taiwan developing new medicine, because the average development time of new medicine is thirteen years and the development time of medical equipments is about seven years,” said President Michael Ming-Chiao Lai in his opening address.
This is a preview of World’s First Large Scale Proactive Cancer Treatment System in Taiwan.
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Surgery has not been an option in the past for children with ACL tears because of the possible damage to the growth plate that can cause serious problems later in life.
With this new technology, surgeons can actually see from one point to the other on either side of the knee, and can safely position the tunnels where they will place the new ligament.
John Xerogeanes, MD, chief of the Emory Sports Medicine Center, and colleagues in the laboratory of Allen R. Tannenbaum, PhD, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, have developed 3-D MRI technology that allows surgeons to pre-operatively plan and perform anatomic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery.
Although modern prosthetic devices are more lifelike and easier for amputees to control than ever before, they still lack a sense of touch. Patients depend on visual feedback to operate their prostheses – they know that they’ve touched an object when they see their prosthetic hand hitting it. Without sensation, patients cannot accurately judge the force of their grip or perceive temperature and texture.
Radical new neurosurgical treatment that accurately targets brain networks involved in depression is being pioneered for the first time in the world at Frenchay Hospital in the city of Bristol in the UK.
The new treatment includes experimental antidepressants, deep brain stimulation and stereotactic neurosurgery, and the research team at the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust hope it will help people suffering with severe and intractable depression.
The first patient to receive the treatment is 62-year-old grandmother Sheila Cook from Torquay. She had been fighting a long hard battle with depression for more than a decade, and has tried to commit suicide more than once in that time.
