Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 11 May 2018
Italian researchers develop lighter, cheaper robotic hand

By COLLEEN BARRY looking with an expert eye
FRANCESCO SPORTELLI would find it difficult to spot
Associated Press that it’s an artificial hand.”
ROME (AP) — Italian re- About a dozen labs world-
searchers on Thursday un- wide are working on im-
veiled a new robotic hand provements to the myo-
they say allows users to grip electric prosthetic, with
objects more naturally and some focusing on touch,
featuring a design that will others on improving how
lower the price significantly. the nervous system commu-
The Hennes robotic hand nicates with the prosthetic.
has a simpler mechanical “Each group is giving baby
design compared with oth- steps to help the field move
er such myoelectric pros- forward,” Jayaraman said.
thetics, characterized by Cost remains a barrier for
sensors that react to electri- advanced prosthetic limbs,
cal signals from the brain to as well as the fact that the
the muscles, said research- more complex motorized
er Lorenzo De Michieli. He systems tend to be “heavy
helped develop the hand and fragile. They also get
in a lab backed by the Ital- hard to control,” said Rob-
ian Institute of Technology ert Gaunt, an assistant pro-
and the INAIL state work- fessor of rehabilitation at
ers’ compensation pros- Marco Zambelli shows his prosthetic hand during an interview with the Associated Press the University of Pittsburgh.
thetic center. in Rome Thursday, May 10, 2018. The Hennes design “could
The Hennes has only one the mechanical complex- been too heavy for some. in a work accident while still make a difference. I think
motor that controls all five ity.” Italian researchers say the a teenager, and has used it is a clever approach and
fingers, making it lighter, They plan to bring it to mar- Hennes weighs about the a variety of prosthetics over one that could see signifi-
cheaper and more able to ket in Europe next year with same as a human hand. the years. A video presen- cant benefits for people
adapt to the shape of ob- a target price of around In the United States, many tation shows him doing a with missing hands,” he
jects. “This can be consid- 10,000 euros ($11,900), amputees prefer the much variety of tasks, including said.
ered low-cost because we about 30 percent below simpler hook prosthetic, removing bills from an au- Limitations remain the in-
reduce to the minimum the current market prices. which attaches by a shoul- tomated teller machine, ability to control individual
mechanical complexity to Arun Jayaraman, a robot- der harness, because it al- grasping a pencil and driv- fingers for tasks like playing
achieve, at the same time, ic prosthetic researcher at lows them to continue to ing a stick-shift car. the piano or typing on a
a very effective grasp, and the Shirley Ryan Ability lab operate heavy equipment, “Driving, for example, is not computer.
a very effective behavior in Chicago, said the lighter Jayaraman said. a problem,” Zambelli, 64, “But the vast majority of
of the prosthesis,” De Mich- design could help over- Italian retiree Marco Zam- said, who has also learned what many of us do with
ieli said. “We maximized the come some resistance in belli has been testing the to use a table knife. “Now our hands every day is sim-
effectiveness of the pros- users to the myoelectric Hennes hand for the last I have gotten very good at ply grasp objects,” Gaunt
thetics and we minimized hands, which to date have three years. He lost his hand it. I think anyone who’s not said.q

Volunteers work to save vintage train simulator in Berlin

Commodore Amiga 3000 ity experience that was development unit in Halle
computer installed to run used to teach train drivers after visiting a train simula-
the system. Not surprisingly, to deal with unexpected tor in Britain produced by
those systems today are emergencies such as the General Precision Systems.
breaking down more and loss of break pressure or an After testing, it was put into
more frequently, and vol- electrical fault. use in 1969 for the training
unteers who have kept the Air is pressurized by an elec- of locomotive drivers.
unit running in a museum in tric engine for the brake Thousands of drivers were
an industrial building on the system. The cylinders move trained on the machine,
eastern outskirts of the Ger- the train cab noisily forward which in those days used
man capital are now trying and backward, left and 16mm film on a screen.
to raise the funds to save it. right to mimic the move- The cabin was set up like a
“It has quite a historical im- ments of a real train on a diesel locomotive from the
portance,” said Lutz Tan- track. And, it occasionally Deutsche Reichsbahn.
In this Friday, May 4, 2018 photo Tobias Hirsch of the ‘Historic City nigel, the last teacher to lets off an alarm. In 1988, it was moved to
Train Driving Simulator’ poses in the simulator cockpit in Berlin, use the simulator to test “This was a huge inno- Berlin and refitted to match
Germany. train drivers. “It was the first vation back then in the the city’s local “S-Bahn”
By JONA KALLGREN Completed in commu- simulator that the Deutsche 1960s,” said Tannigel, an commuter train service.
Associated Press nist East Germany in 1968, Reichsbahn (East German energetic 54-year old who The simulator was kept in
BERLIN (AP) — Hydraulic sys- the one-of-a-kind train national railway) had. And still works as a teacher for service after the fall of the
tems jerk and pull the metal simulator had its last major we still have it and it still train drivers in Berlin. “That Berlin Wall in 1989 and the
train cab back and forth as overhaul nearly 30 years works, so it is absolutely im- you could use a simulator following reunification of
the driver pilots it along the ago when it was outfitted perative to maintain it for to train drivers. That was Germany, and it got its
tracks of Berlin’s commuter with then-state of the art the future.” very advanced.” upgraded LaserDisc video
rail system, as images of the equipment — its 16mm film Built in the city of Halle, East German train authori- system and Commodore
city just after the fall of the screen replaced with La- northwest of Leipzig, it was ties commissioned the unit computer over the next
Berlin Wall whiz by. serDisc technology and a a sort of early virtual real- from their research and two years.q