Immersive Cocoon // Step Into The Future. Directed & 3D CG by Oliver Zeller, Video Courtesy of I-Cocoon The world of interfaces continues to evolve and surprise us. We still think of it as something we can hold, fold and place in our bag to carry anywhere. What if you can be part of an intuitive and holistic experience where your interface is not reduced to a mouse-click or a two dimensional tablet screen. Welcome to the Immersive Cocoon, a surround display dome with sophisticated motion sensor technology that inspired the technology depicted in 'Minority Report'. Now your body becomes the interface, as you are enveloped and your body movement becomes part of this digital environment to make our everyday lives more enjoyable, at least that is what this conceptual project tries to explore.
Image Courtesy of I-Cocoon The Immersive Cocoon opens its hatch silently and extends a small set of stairs that helps you move into this 360 degree display covering the entire interior walls. Sources: I-Cocoon, NAU. Toyota And Audi To Unveil Their Driverless Cars Next Week At CES. Cyborg Future Draws Closer As Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Brain Implant. In 1996, Jan Scheuermann was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a hereditary condition in which areas of the spinal cord and brain that control movement deteriorate. She gradually became quadriplegic, losing the use of her arms and legs. But researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt School of Medicine sought to give Scheuermann control back, not of her own arm, but of a robotic arm she would control with her own thoughts. The brain-computer interface (BCI) that surgeons implanted consisted of two quarter-inch arrays containing 96 electrode contacts.
The arrays were placed on the surface of Scheuermann’s motor cortex – one over the area that is activated when she thinks about moving her hand, the other over the area activated when she thinks about moving her shoulder. The arrays are able to detect the electrical activity of underlying neurons and use the firing patterns to control a robotic arm. Scheuermann showed rapid progress during training. Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Thoughts. A neural interface device allows patients to control a robotic arm with their minds.
Cathy Hutchinson hasn’t moved her limbs of her own volition for 15 years, but by imagining she was using her own hand, she controlled a robotic arm to pick up a thermos of coffee and took a sip. The technology is a neural interface system called BrainGate2, currently in clinical trials, which connects Cathy’s brain to a robot. The device is the result of over 10 years of research at Brown University and an extension of the first BrainGate in 2006, which allowed patients to control a computer cursor on a screen. Cathy was one of two patients on the study, which was recently reported in Nature, who suffer from tetraplegia, a condition in which communication between the brain and the rest of the body is disconnected either through a stroke or damage to the spinal cord. Prof. Check out the video to see the moment for yourself: Prof.
[Media: YouTube] [Sources: Arstechnica, BrainGate, Nature, Nature Video] BrainGate - Home.