Digital Scryer

No this isn’t powered exo-armor a la Iron Man, it’s more of a flexible support frame to help the disabled stand and walk again. I found the article today after my fiance and I were discussing a guest speaker she recently interviewed, and it piqued my interest. My comments are in bold italics and the article can be found here.

There is new hope for people who have been paralyzed with the invention of a so-called orthopedic “armor”, which is defying doctors’ prognoses by allowing patients to both stand and walk.

I hardly think that this is a fair statement. Doctor’s prognoses in these situations is that the people will never walk again under their own power or without assistance. Kinda sensationalistic if you ask me.

This piece of sculpture is designed to fit its customer perfectly. Made of a plastic-like material and placed around a steel skeleton, the simple device is called “armor for the disabled”.

I’m glad they put “armor” in quotes as it wouldn’t really protect much.

Just one small step contradicts everything the doctors have been telling Aleksey Filatov ever since he was paralyzed in a car accident.

It’s not really contradicting, as the doctors in question probably never said “You’ll never walk again, even with help from an exo-frame of some kind.”

He still can’t feel his feet, but with his armor he can walk on them.

“Unlike similar devices this device is very light and it doesn’t take a lot of time to put it on. It helps to get into the car and use the wheelchair much less. It can also be worn under trousers,” Aleksey says.

The fact that it’s lightweight is amazing, as is the fact that it’s portable enough to be worn under your pants.

“Armor” Production Begins With Making A Plaster Cast

The invention is the brainchild of another disabled man, also called Aleksey. Eight years of being confined to bed left him determined to prove the doctors wrong.

“The armor is not going to help you jump or play football. But they can allow you to do some things which were previously inaccessible. To allow people to stand up is very important. It helps to solve the psychological problems of the disabled,” says Aleksey Nalogin, inventor of the armor for the disabled.

Now THIS I vastly agree with. Innumerable studies have shown how bolstering the psychological condition helps ALL kinds of patients, especially paralyzed ones. The hope and drive to keep going and function properly truly does make the healing process work. I’ve seen too many paralyzed people fight their way back into functioning after their doctors told them they’d never be able to speak again, let alone move, to believe otherwise.

Now his armor is available to anyone who needs it. Aleksey’s invention is already helping children, and the doctors say the armor has shown impressive results.

The fact that this is widely available is most amazing. The act of pantomiming proper movement encourages the growth and function of nerve cells, and this can only help more.

“The beauty of Aleksey’s invention is that each piece of armor is handmade to fit the patient perfectly. After production the armor is adjusted on the patient several times to guarantee the best medical effect. That’s something similar devices made on the production line cannot do,” says sports doctor Dmitry Kiselev.

What sucks about this is that mass production is what allows things to be done cheaply. Every piece having to be custom made is going to drive the prices up and the availability down. Some engineers should tackle this and figure out a way to cheaply and easily make the frame more customizable so that it can be just as useful if mass produced.

Aleksey says being disabled in Russia is difficult. Public transport and streets are not fully equipped for those who are physically impaired, but the inventor says this armor is a step towards making Russia disabled-friendly.


Not just Russia my friends, the whole world. My Grandpa was a paraplegic and I can only imagine how this device would have helped him. Now let’s see this idea grow and spread, not get shelved like so many others.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Technorati Tags: Armor, Brainchild, Car Accident, exoarmor, exoframe, Flexible Support, Invention, Iron Man, Lightweight, New Hope, Orthopedic, Paralysis, Paralyzed, Paraplegic, Plaster Cast, Prognoses, Quadriplegic, Sculpture, Steel Skeleton, Support Frame, Wheelchair

Popularity: 6% [?]

Technorati Tags: David Pay, Microscopic Vision, Rice man, Riceman

In February of this year IBM issued a patent for exo-armor that would allow you to dodge bullets. Unfortunately they’ve since pulled the patent. I still think that this is remarkable.

Their patent was a combination of high accuracy sensors (to detect high velocity projectiles in flight, and calculate their exact trajectories) and exo-suit technology (if you happened to be in the path of said projectile, the exo-suit would shove you out of the way faster than you could react). Their logic was that sniper bullets come from far enough away to give the sensors and suit enough time to move your butt to safety. Sound like Neo to you?

I’m Getting My Butt To Safety!

I think the only limits to this would be processing speed, which wouldn’t be a limit for long. There are so many immediate ways I could see to enhance this as well. Terahertz wave (and other) detectors could be used to track ALL firearms in an area, and a computer algorithm could be used to track all of their potential trajectories.

The sensors could then be used to tell if the guns were in people’s hands or not, and behavioral algorithms (which AFAIK have already been developed) could be used to tell if the person holding the gun was acting aggressively.

Couple that with the ability to read the movement of a trigger finger, and you could have the person dodging a split second before the gun is actually fired; starting to dodge after the trigger was pulled, but BEFORE the hammer came down. This would greatly shorten the range, allowing you to dodge even point blank in ideal conditions.

All Conditions Are Ideal For Me

With advanced enough algorithms, you could even have this thing letting you dodge attacks in hand to hand combat and make it look effortless. Jackie Chan’s suit from The Tuxedo comes to mind.

IBM, Now With 56% More Tuxedos.

Thanks to TechFragments.com for the original heads up.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Technorati Tags: Algorithms, Armor, Bullets, Computer Algorithm, Exo, Exo Armor, Exo Suit, Firearms, Guns, Hand To Hand Combat, High Velocity, IBM, Ibm Patent, Ibm Patents, Jackie Chan, Point Blank, Projectile, Projectiles, Safety Sound, Sensors, Sniper, Trajectories, Trigger Finger, Tuxedo, Tuxedos

There have existed over time people with various “super” abilities. Things that really defy the norm. This article is first in an ongoing series cataloging these abilities.

Microscopic Vision; Defined as the capability to see things that are very tiny, often portrayed in comics as a “zooming in” effect like focusing a microscope or telescope. I was able to find 2 case studies of people with microscopic vision.

First is the case of A. Schiller, a convicted forger serving time in Sing Sing in the late 19th century. Schiller died in prison and when they searched his body, on his person they found seven ordinary straight pins. Six of these pins had silver heads and one was gold. On the heads of each of these pins, which were 47/1000ths of an inch or 1.17 millimeters in diameter, was written all 65 words of the Lord’s prayer.

500x Magnification

These words were only viewable to the layperson (read: person without microscopic vision) under a microscope with 500x magnification. These feats took Schiller 25 years, using a tool that’s so small it’s invisible to the naked eye. He supposedly went blind from the effort, meaning he probably couldn’t see anything unless it was right in front of his face and possibly very tiny. Truly amazing works of art.

The second is David Pay, the rice writer. I first saw David on an old episode of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not years ago, and was able to find this Youtube clip of that episode:



David writes on rice without any visual aids at all, no small feat. The difference between him and Schiller up there is that he doesn’t seem to have visual problems at all. No glasses or anything. While I don’t think David’s work is as tiny as Schiller’s, it’s still very amazing. He even started to work on his own version of the Lord’s prayer on a single grain of rice, and mentions that with smaller, higher quality tools, he’d be able to write even smaller.

In the latter part of the video clip in Spanish, he writes the entire alphabet on a rice grain in 25 seconds though his record is apparently 17.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Feats, Focusing A Microscope, Forger, Grain Of Rice, Layperson, Magnification, Microscopic, Microscopic Vision, Millimeters, Naked Eye, Quality Tools, Ripley S Believe, Ripley S Believe It Or Not, Schiller, Serving Time, Sing Sing, Straight Pins, Superpower, Superpowers, Video Clip, Visual Aids, Works Of Art, Youtube Clip

So I was stumbling through the net today when I came upon this old article about defending oneself against an armed or unarmed opponent using only a walking stick or umbrella.

It’s a pretty lengthy and detailed guide about kicking butt and taking names old school style. “Macguyver” fencing with what you have handy is a fairly effective practice to use when people challenge you to fisticuffs.

They’re fighting, really.

All in all this basic lesson is great for the elderly or the Penguin, or any of us captains of industry who still carry canes about anymore. I really like it.

WARK!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Technorati Tags: Cane Fighting, Captains Of Industry, Elderly, Fisticuffs, Martial Arts, The Penguin, Umbrella, Walking Stick