Thinking outside the box, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Aarhus University researchers have now engineered “MouthIO,” a dental brace that can be fabricated with sensors and feedback components to capture in-mouth interactions and data. This interactive wearable could eventually assist dentists and other doctors with collecting health data and help motor-impaired individuals interact with a phone, computer, or fitness tracker using their mouths.Resembling an electronic retainer, MouthIO is a see-through brace that fits the specifications of your upper or lower set of teeth from a scan. The researchers created a plugin for the modeling software Blender to help users tailor the device to fit a dental scan, where you can then 3D print your design in dental resin. This computer-aided design tool allows users to digitally customize a panel (called PCB housing) on the side to integrate electronic components like batteries, sensors (including detectors for temperature and acceleration, as well as tongue-touch sensors), and actuators (like vibration motors and LEDs for feedback). You can also place small electronics outside of the PCB housing on individual teeth.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PsDgvZ_6vT4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">The active mouth</h2>“The mouth is a really interesting place for an interactive wearable and can open up many opportunities, but has remained largely unexplored due to its complexity,” says senior author Michael Wessely, a former CSAIL postdoc and senior author on a&nbsp;<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3654777.3676443">paper about MouthIO</a> who is now an assistant professor at Aarhus University. “This compact, humid environment has elaborate geometries, making it hard to build a wearable interface to place inside. With MouthIO, though, we’ve developed a new kind of device that’s comfortable, safe, and almost invisible to others. Dentists and other doctors are eager about MouthIO for its potential to provide new health insights, tracking things like teeth grinding and potentially bacteria in your saliva.” The excitement for MouthIO’s potential in health monitoring stems from initial experiments. The team found that their device could track bruxism (the habit of grinding teeth) by embedding an accelerometer within the brace to track jaw movements. When attached to the lower set of teeth, MouthIO detected when users grind and bite, with the data charted to show how often users did each. Wessely and his colleagues’ customizable brace could one day help users with motor impairments, too. The team connected small touchpads to MouthIO, helping detect when a user’s tongue taps their teeth. These interactions could be sent via Bluetooth to scroll across a webpage, for example, allowing the tongue to act as a “third hand” to open up a new avenue for hands-free interaction."MouthIO is a great example how miniature electronics now allow us to integrate sensing into a broad range of everyday interactions,” says study co-author Stefanie Mueller, the TIBCO Career Development Associate Professor in the MIT departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering and leader of the HCI Engineering Group at CSAIL. “I'm especially excited about the potential to help improve accessibility and track potential health issues among users."<h2 dir="ltr">Molding and making MouthIO</h2>To get a 3D model of your teeth, you can first create a physical impression and fill it with plaster. You can then scan your mold with a mobile app like Polycam and upload that to Blender. Using the researchers’ plugin within this program, you can clean up your dental scan to outline a precise brace design. Finally, you 3D print your digital creation in clear dental resin, where the electronic components can then be soldered on. Users can create a standard brace that covers their teeth, or opt for an “open-bite” design within their Blender plugin. The latter fits more like open-finger gloves, exposing the tips of your teeth, which helps users avoid lisping and talk naturally.This “do it yourself” method costs roughly $15 to produce and takes two hours to be 3D-printed. MouthIO can also be fabricated with a more expensive, professional-level teeth scanner similar to what dentists and orthodontists use, which is faster and less labor-intensive.Compared to its closed counterpart, which fully covers your teeth, the researchers view the open-bite design as a more comfortable option. The team preferred to use it for beverage monitoring experiments, where they fabricated a brace capable of alerting users when a drink was too hot. This iteration of MouthIO had a temperature sensor and a monitor embedded within the PCB housing that vibrated when a drink exceeded 65 degrees Celsius (or 149 degrees Fahrenheit). This could help individuals with mouth numbness better understand what they’re consuming. In a user study, participants also preferred the open-bite version of MouthIO. “We found that our device could be suitable for everyday use in the future,” says study lead author and Aarhus University PhD student Yijing Jiang. “Since the tongue can touch the front teeth in our open-bite design, users don’t have a lisp. This made users feel more comfortable wearing the device during extended periods with breaks, similar to how people use retainers.” The team’s initial findings indicate that MouthIO is a cost-effective, accessible, and customizable interface, and the team is working on a more long-term study to evaluate its viability further. They’re looking to improve its design, including experimenting with more flexible materials, and placing it in other parts of the mouth, like the cheek and the palate. Among these ideas, the researchers have already prototyped two new designs for MouthIO: a single-sided brace for even higher comfort when wearing MouthIO while also being fully invisible to others, and another fully capable of wireless charging and communication. Jiang, Mueller, and Wessely’s co-authors include PhD student Julia Kleinau, master’s student Till Max Eckroth, and associate professor Eve Hoggan, all of Aarhus University. Their work was supported by a Novo Nordisk Foundation grant and was presented at ACM’s Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

When you think about hands-free devices, you might picture Alexa and other voice-activated in-home assistants, Bluetooth earpieces, or asking Siri to make a phone call in your car. You might not imagine using your mouth to communicate with other devices like a computer or a phone remotely. 

Interactive mouthpiece opens new opportunities for health data, assistive technology, and hands-free interactions

The road&nbsp;is a&nbsp;dangerous place for everyone, but for motorcycle riders the inherent risks loom particularly large. When a collision occurs, these road users are highly vulnerable with little to no protection compared to drivers and passengers in enclosed vehicles.The main contributors to accidents involving motorcycles include speed, compromised visibility, and a lack of alertness. Some incidents are perhaps unavoidable. Others might be prevented by mitigating the chance of human error, when the consequences of mistakes are potentially devastating.&nbsp;Fortunately, wireless tech-based solutions are emerging as a driving force behind much needed motorcycle safety improvements.&nbsp;<h2>Facing&nbsp;serious&nbsp;facts&nbsp;</h2>The grim reality is that, proportionate to the number of registered vehicles, motorcycle riders tend to be over-represented in fatal and serious injury figures. According to Bus.com motorcycles are the most dangerous form of transport with around 213 deaths for every 1.6 million kilometers traveled by motorcycle. This compares to just 0.11 deaths for every 1.6 million kilometers traveled by bus[1].&nbsp;And in Australia, for example, annual fatality rates per billion vehicle kilometers travelled are, on average, nearly 30 times higher for motorcycle riders than for vehicle occupants. When it comes to serious injuries, motorcycle riders in the country account for 21.8 percent of all incidents, despite making up only 5.7 percent of registered passenger vehicles[2].&nbsp;Globally, motorcyclists and other powered two-and three-wheeled vehicle riders make up nearly a quarter of the 1.19 million annual road traffic deaths, while 28 percent of deaths due to road accidents are caused by motorcycles, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)[3].<h2>Wireless tech holds the key&nbsp;</h2>To address this enormous challenge and reduce the alarming statistics, innovative developers in the motorcycle equipment sector are turning to advanced technologies. By integrating powerful sensors, location services, and wireless connectivity, smart motorcycle safety gear gives riders a decision-making advantage.&nbsp;&nbsp;Access to live traffic updates, hazard warnings, and optimized routes, among other features, can create a clearer picture of what’s around the corner, and when and how to react.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Heads-up display&nbsp;for helmets&nbsp;</h2>German motorcycle accessories company TILSBERK, for example, has developed a wireless display designed to attach to the user’s motorcycle or scooter helmet to provide important information for riders without taking their eyes off the road.&nbsp;&nbsp;Once connected to the user’s smartphone via Nordic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF52840">nRF52840</a>&nbsp;SoC-enabled&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Wireless/Bluetooth-Low-Energy">Bluetooth LE</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/Nordic-news/2024/06/TILSBERK-Head-Up-Display-employs-the-Bluetooth-LE-connectivity-of-the-Nordic-nRF52840-SoC">TILSBERK Head-Up Display</a>&nbsp;(HUD) virtual display includes key riding metrics, including navigation prompts, lane indicators, speed limits, speed warnings, incoming calls, compass readings, smartphone charging status, and time. It also offers both a satellite navigation system and a comprehensive tour planning tool.&nbsp;&nbsp;As Mirko Zabel, Team Leader Marketing at TILSBERK explains, eliminating the need to glance down at traditional displays or navigation devices helps to significantly enhance concentration levels and safety while riding.&nbsp;<h2>Motorcycle navigation via sunglasses&nbsp;</h2>Elsewhere, a pair of sunglasses also double as a motorcycle navigation HUD. The lightweight Blucap Moto sunglasses integrate Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC to provide Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity between the sunglasses and the rider’s smartphone, as well as the handlebar-mounted remote control. The remote control employs Nordic’s nRF52810 SoC to enable wireless connectivity.&nbsp;&nbsp;Once the sunglasses are paired to the user’s smartphone, riders can use the fully featured Blucap Go navigation app to relay in-ride directions and other important information from the smartphone to the sunglasses’ high brightness MicroLED-powered HUD. Directions and other important information are displayed in the rider’s peripheral vision ensuring they receive timely navigation assistance, again without taking their eyes off the road, or being distracted by a handlebar-mounted smartphone.&nbsp;Zhu Ning, Founder and CEO of Blucap, claims eliminating the need to mount a phone on the handlebar for navigation allows the Blucap Moto sunglasses to eliminate distractions and safety risks. The solution wouldn’t be viable without wireless technology; the Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity has enabled Blucap to design a minimalist HUD system that functions like ordinary sunglasses with no distractions to the rider at all, says Ning.<h2>A safer&nbsp;road ahead&nbsp;</h2>More and more connected motorcycle safety solutions are hitting the market to help prevent riders from hitting other vehicles, pedestrians, the surface of the road, or infrastructure and environmental hazards like signposts and trees.&nbsp;One forecast by MarketsandMarkets projects the global connected motorcycle market will reach $757 million by 2027, up from $55 million in 2021, representing a CAGR of 54.7 percent during the forecast period[4]. This strong growth forecast is being driven in large part by the rising demand for better motorcycle safety and security, along with the prevalence of powerful edge computing and Cloud services, according to the analyst.&nbsp;It appears the road to greater motorcycle safety—and consequently fewer accidents causing fatal and serious injury—will be paved by the IoT and advanced wireless tech.&nbsp;<hr>References&nbsp;1.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bus.com/blog/safest-mode-of-transportation/" rel="noopener">Which Mode of Transportation is the Safest?</a> Bus.com, July 2020 &nbsp; 2.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bitre.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/road_trauma_australia_2020_statistical_summary.pdf" rel="noopener" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">Road trauma Australia 2020 statistical summary.</a> Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, 2020&nbsp; 3.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240086517" rel="noopener">Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023.</a> WHO, December 2023&nbsp; 4.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/connected-motorcycle.asp" rel="noopener">Connected Motorcycle Market – Global Forecast to 2027.</a> MarketsandMarkets, 2021&nbsp;

Wireless tech-based solutions are emerging as a driving force behind much needed motorcycle safety improvements. 

Wireless motorcycle safety solutions protect riders on the road

Two new kinds of on-skin electronics allow users to build and customize them directly on the body – with potential applications in biometric sensing, medical monitoring, interactive prosthetic makeup and more.<a href="https://www.hybridbody.human.cornell.edu/#/skinlink/">SkinLink</a>, developed by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hybridbody.human.cornell.edu/">Hybrid Body Lab</a> led by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.human.cornell.edu/people/hk932">Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao</a>, assistant professor of human centered design in the College of Human Ecology, is an on-skin electronic interface that can be fabricated right on the body, providing flexibility in design depending on the intended use. And&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hybridbody.human.cornell.edu/#/ecskin/">ECSkin</a> is an electrochromic display interface that also can be fabricated in situ, and features modular design through tiles that can be arranged as desired.Some of the potential applications for SkinLink include vital-sign and posture monitoring, proximity sensing and body art.“Both of these projects are modular prototyping toolkits, to enable much more intricate on-skin circuitry prototyping,” Kao said. “And users are able to build the circuitry directly on the skin surface.”Doctoral student and lab member Pin-Sung Ku is lead author of “<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3596241">SkinLink:&nbsp;On-body Construction and Prototyping of Reconfigurable Epidermal Interfaces</a>,” which was presented in early October at UbiComp/ISWC ’24, the Association for Computing Machinery’s international joint conference on pervasive and ubiquitous computing.The work earned a Distinguished Paper Award from the journal, Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, where it was originally published in June 2023.<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3659613">ECSkin: Tessellating Electrochromic Films for Reconfigurable On-skin Displays</a>, which published May 15, 2024, in the same journal and for which Ku is also lead author, was also presented at the conference. Kao is senior author for both papers.SkinLink represents a step forward from&nbsp;<a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/11/skinkit-offers-versatile-wearable-skin-computing">SkinKit, which the lab developed</a> and presented at UbiComp in 2021. The earlier iteration featured slim and flexible printed circuit boards in temporary tattoo form, but the boards had predefined behaviors and larger surface areas, making customizability a challenge.“There were several issues we didn’t address in SkinKit, such as how to allow users to program the modules the way they want to,” Ku said. “For SkinKit, everything was pre-programmed; users had to attach things in a certain order. With SkinLink, there is more customizability of the functions they like.”With SkinKit, for example, the circuitry had to be built before applying it to the body; with SkinLink, users can put one module on the body, then another, for more customizability.&nbsp;The SkinLink toolkit consists of functional circuit modules, made of flexible printed circuit boards, and flexible, custom-designed wiring (called trace modules, or traces) that connect the sensor and actuator modules to the microcontroller board.That’s a key difference from SkinKit: Smaller circuit boards are connect via flexible wiring, allowing for greater freedom of motion without sacrificing connectivity.&nbsp; “The circuit boards are somewhat rigid,” Ku said, “but we created the traces to be elastic, stretchable and flexible, so as not to hinder body movement.”The on-body fabrication process starts with selecting and programming the circuit board and trace modules. The microcontroller board can be repeatedly programmed during this step, to fine-tune the circuit functions. The boards can be temporarily placed on the body and customized, before final placement.The researchers conducted A/B testing of SkinLink, comparing its usability with SkinKit in a 14-person study, and found that SkinLink enables a more flexible wiring process than SkinKit, along with unrestricted circuit arrangement and superior wearability. Compared to the SkinKit, the SkinLink interface has a much smaller footprint, better stretchability, easier fabricating and more seamless wear.SkinKit, Kao said, offered a “low floor” – a term coined by computer scientist Ben Shneiderman, meaning that people with little or no experience can quickly get started designing and prototyping wearable tech. SkinLink takes it a couple of steps further, she said.“Another goal is what we call ‘high ceilings and wide walls,’” she said. “High ceilings means increasing the complexity of the prototypes; wide walls refers to the vast array of things that could be designed. That’s what I think SkinLink really does.”Kao said she sees both SkinLink and ECSkin as “enabling technologies,” with a variety of potential uses. Some of the studies with SkinLink involved artists, wearable tech researchers, and psychology researchers for physiology sensing; she also envisions applications beyond humans.&nbsp;“Being able to use this as a functional technology for physiological sensing or artistic practice is one application,” she said. “Our work has focused on skin interfaces for humans, but I think there could also be potential for designing ‘skin’ interfaces for other living beings, such as animals, and sensing for agricultural purposes, even on plants. We are interested in bringing SkinLink to broader disciplines to support on-skin prototyping.”

An ECSkin on-body display, composed of modular electrochromic films, is flexible and soft, and easily conforms to complex body parts such as the wrist. Hybrid Body Lab/Provided

Two new kinds of on-skin electronics allow users to build and customize them directly on the body – with potential applications in biometric sensing, medical monitoring, interactive prosthetic makeup and more.

On-body electronics can monitor health, support creative expression

Where verbal communication is hindered, such as in locations with lots of background noise or where an individual has an existing speech impairment, SSI systems are a cutting-edge solution, enabling verbal communication without vocalisation. As such, it is a type of electronic lip-reading using human-computer interaction.In new research, led by the University of Cambridge, an overlying structured graphene layer is applied to an integrated textile strain sensor for robust speech recognition performance, even in noisy environments.Worn around the neck, the smart choker captures micromovements in the throat, which are then picked up by the strain sensor as an electrical signal and fed into brain-inspired computer software models for processing and speech recognition. It can pick up even silently mouthed words and broadcast it, which could help someone who is unable to speak following laryngeal surgery, for example.The smart choker’s unique structure features ordered thorough cracks on graphene-coated textiles. The structured graphene layer significantly enhances the sensitivity of the strain sensor. It can dynamically respond to throat micromovements, enabling the capture of information-rich speech signals. These signals are then processed through a computationally efficient neural network, with a record accuracy of 95.25% in speech decoding.&nbsp;The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1" target="_blank">results</a>, reported in the journal npj Flexible Electronics, offer a promising, non-invasive solution for practical, wearable SSI systems, paving the way for seamless, natural silent communication in diverse settings.The proposed SSI system is robust and able to decode a wide range of words, while swiftly adapting to new users and vocabularies. The technology was recently showcased as a live demonstration at the <a href="https://2024.ieee-biosensors.org/" target="_blank">IEEE Biosensors 2024</a> conference, attracting the attention of 180 plus participants to the event.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1728346384523-Screenshot+2024-08-15+at+15.51.32.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">An overview of the wearable SSI, featuring an ultrasensitive strain sensor and a neural network for efficient speech recognition.The research was led by <a href="https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/lgo23" target="_blank">Dr Luigi G. Occhipinti</a>, Director of Research in Smart Electronics, Biosystems and AI, and Head of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.occhipintigroup.com/" target="_blank">Occhipinti Group</a> in the&nbsp;<a href="https://ee.eng.cam.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Electrical Engineering Division</a> at the Department of Engineering and&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.graphene.cam.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Cambridge Graphene Centre</a>.Dr Occhipinti said: “Our user-friendly smart choker demonstrates a remarkable ability to efficiently perform in real-world scenarios with users of different genders, geographical, and ethnic backgrounds, across new and potentially ambiguous words of varying lengths and familiarity, and at varying reading speeds.“Our SSI system operates with high precision and computational efficiency in distinguishing the speech of different users against different types of noise, caused by sensor imperfections, the external environment, and/or from the users’ own body movements while wearing the device.“Furthermore, the fabrication method of our ultrasensitive textile strain sensor technology is biocompatible, simple, low cost, and scalable. It is also adaptable to prolonged use and can withstand more than 10,000 stretching-releasing cycles while maintaining stable and reliable electrical functionality.“Put simply, the synergy of our sensor design and neural network optimisation sets a new standard in wearable silent speech communication technologies, offering a comfortable smart choker with groundbreaking potential.”<hr>Reference: Chenyu Tang, Muzi Xu, Wentian Yi, Luigi Giuseppe Occhipinti, et al. ‘<a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1" target="_blank">Ultrasensitive textile strain sensors redefine wearable silent speech interfaces with high machine learning efficiency’</a>. npj Flexible Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1

Micromovements in the throat are captured by an ultrasensitive strain sensor integrated into a smart choker, comprising a textile substrate with an overlying structured graphene layer. Credit: Mr Zibo Zhang from University College London

A wearable ‘smart’ choker for speech recognition has the potential to redefine the field of silent speech interface (SSI), say researchers – thanks to embedded ultrasensitive textile strain sensor technology.

Graphene-based wearable strain sensor can detect and broadcast silently mouthed words

In this episode, we explore an innovative and sustainable wearable device designed by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to improve posture and we discuss why AI isn’t just a novelty in this product but a core feature that sets it apart from the rest!<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/d57569bc-03b3-422f-b7d5-738ddd6707a9?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr><h3 id="isPasted">Episode Notes</h3>(0:50) - <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/innovative-wearable-sustainably-improving-posture" target="_blank">Innovative Wearable: Sustainably Improving Posture</a>Become a founding reader of our newsletter: <a href="http://read.thenextbyte.com/" target="_blank">http://read.thenextbyte.com/</a><hr><h2 data-attrid="title" data-local-attribute="d3bn" data-ved="2ahUKEwiBhLnmu4aAAxVmwjgGHcDWC38Q3B0oAXoECEgQEQ" id="isPasted">Transcript</h2>Gosh, my neck, my back, they hurt so bad from my poor posture. If you're just like me, you're not alone, right? Poor posture is impacting millions of people around the world. And if your back hurts from poor posture, the way that Farbod and my back hurts from carrying the podcast game, you're going to want to check out this episode. Cause we're talking about a startup called StraightUp. That's making a wearable device to help you correct your posture over time.I'm Daniel, and I'm Farbod. And this is the NextByte Podcast. Every week, we explore interesting and impactful tech and engineering content from Wevolver.com and deliver it to you in bite sized episodes that are easy to understand, regardless of your background.&nbsp;Daniel:&nbsp;What's up folks? Like we said on today's podcast episode, we're talking all about back pain and neck pain, which is a widespread issue. And this basically fledgling startup of students from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT, they made a startup called StraightUp. That's StraightUp gonna fix your back, StraightUp gonna fix your neck problems and make sure that you're StraightUp, standing StraightUp and sitting StraightUp all the time because I don't know, I think it's awesome the way that they've used technology in this sustainable user-friendly approach. I don't want to jump too fast into it. Maybe we talk a little bit more about the why first, but I think it's StraightUp interesting.Farbod: I StraightUp agree with you. And I think I'm very relevant to the why. They talk about how in the Western world, our sedentary life has led to us having a lot of back problems, a lot of neck problems. And then, a lot of people don't exercise a lot. So, I'm gonna call myself out from 8 a.m. today. It's almost 8 p.m. now. I have basically been slouched on the couch looking at a monitor. And even right now, like I had to straighten up as you started talking about the topic. My back has just kind of been hunched over. You know, I'm a youngish man right now. So, the effects have been somewhat minimal, but I feel like if I don't correct this, it's gonna catch up with me and I'm gonna feel the pain down the road. Now, Daniel over here, he's already ahead of the curve. This man is religious about his standing desk. So, he obviously has no idea what the rest of us in the Western world are talking about.Daniel:&nbsp;I know exactly what you're talking about. This is exactly why I stand up every day when I'm working at my desk, because I do have back pain. I do have neck pain from sitting on the couch or sitting in a chair and slouching. And my dad, like, had to have like really invasive back surgery and all this stuff. And he says a lot of it is probably because of his sedentary office environment, lack of movement during the day, poor posture, created a chronic issue in his back that could only be fixed by surgery. So, I'm trying to take some preventative measures along the way, but I still think there's a lot that I can do to improve my posture. And what's crazy is like a vast majority of back pain and back surgeries, chiropractor visits, et cetera. Doctors contribute a vast majority of those actually to just people's posture, right? Something that you do every single day, you know, 99 plus percent of the time, whenever you're sitting in a chair, staring at a screen or staring at your phone, that creates a lot of long-term impact on your body. And the traditional solutions for posture correcting either restrict your mobility. Right. They feel like you're like strapped into something or there's even like these new startups trying to think of one, I think it's called Upright. Which is crazy because this one's called StraightUp. So maybe they've got some beef already. But Upright is something that I've seen a lot of Instagram ads for. And it basically looks like about something about size of an AirPods case. And it hangs on a necklace on your back and it's supposed to like vibrate and let you know when you've bent over too far like you're slouching a little bit. But one of the challenges with that, and I've actually, no joke, like I'm not trying to just show StraightUp here. I've actually like looked into it and saw people on Reddit saying like, this thing's so freaking annoying. It vibrates like whenever I bend down to pick something up off the ground, I'm like, I'm not slouching. I'm just literally picking something up off the ground. So, traditional solutions either restrict your mobility, you're in a brace or they give inaccurate feedback during common most common movements. So, both of those, less effective than they could be. So, enter this team straight up, spin-off from Karlsruhe institutes at technology, I think it's three students.Farbod: Three students and a physiotherapist. Yeah.Daniel: And a physiotherapist from KIT, right? They're teaming up to try and tackle this problem with a more user-friendly approach. And this more user-friendly approach is correcting posture using haptic feedback. So, for those of you that don't know what haptic feedback is, that's like when you're typing on your phone and it vibrates a little bit, or you press a button on your phone and it vibrates a little bit, lets your body know with a physical response that the way it's interacting with something. So, in this case, the way you interact with this device is it does small vibrations, haptic feedback, to let you know when you have bad posture, to try and remind you, hey, it's time to maybe put your shoulder blades back a little bit and straighten out your neck. That gives you a little bit of a vibration as a reminder for that. It's not very restrictive like a brace. And essentially, it's this wearable that helps correct your posture. It measures your shoulder position, measures your back inclination, measures the position of your neck and tries to help encourage you to learn healthy posture. And that's one of the challenges, let's say with like a normal back brace right now to try and fix this. And Nellie even bought a posture corrector and had the same complaint, which is like, it feels like it's forcing my body to be in the right position rather than teaching it to be in the right position. So, the second you take it off, your body hasn't learned to make this its new natural home. You just go back to slouching like you were before, and it just feels kind of uncomfortable when you're wearing it. So instead of forcing your body to be in the right position, it's slowly teaching it and encouraging it with haptic feedback to maintain proper posture.Farbod: Yeah, and I mean, we can kind of start jumping into their solution, but they kind of got the best of both worlds figured out. On the material side, they chose this elastic metal alloy. So, as the name implies, it's made of metal, but it's elastic so it can conform to your body. So, it's not super rigid. Instead of having a, you know what you were talking about, I think Upright, I don't know how Upright technology works. I'm guessing that little necklace has some sort of sensor that says if you've been tilted this much, give it vibration. These folks over at StraightUp are using an AI, which I am guessing takes into account a bunch of different feedback from the harness to then say, yeah, this person's actually been crouching over their computer for an extended period of time versus, oh, they're just bending over to pick something up, or maybe they're playing a sport. And just being able to differentiate between what your body's doing in different conditions instead of a binary, oh, you're in a bad posture, or no, you're in a perfect posture.Daniel:&nbsp;Yeah, I think this is like the more nuanced next generation version of some of the things that we've seen before. Not to dog on Upright at all, right? It's a great idea. But this feels like almost like an extra twist on that, that uses these, they call them conductive super elastic metal alloys, which basically in my mind, my interpretation of this is they've got these metal wires that are weaved into the fabric of this harness that avoids all the bulkiness of having external components like an accelerometer or something like that. And what it does is it flexes with the user's movements and because it's super stretchy and because they also mentioned it's conductive, I’m imagining all they're doing is measuring the resistance of this wire and as the person changes position the resistance of the wire changes as it stretches or contracts with the body. And that allows them to gain a lot of insight on the body's position and then that allows them to you know use their AI process or whatever using the sensor data to distinguish between a normal forward bending motion versus harmful slouching. And then give the person direct haptic feedback. So, instead of locking your back into a rigid position, like a brace, what are giving you errant feedback, like some other solutions do, it tries to make sure that it knows exactly when you're holding bad posture, gives you a subtle vibration to try and train your body, say, oh, I actually have bad posture. I'm going to put my shoulders back. I'm going to straighten out my neck a little bit and it promotes you actively correcting your posture. Building better muscles to stabilize your shoulder blades in your spine and your neck as opposed to like forcing your body to do it or giving you too many notifications. So, you do it at the wrong time.Farbod: Yeah. And that in itself is already pretty promising. What I found to be even more impressive is that it looks like they're now working with the German Institute for Textile and Fiber Research. I'm guessing they're doing this to better understand how they can kind of merge this technology into a shirt or something that you would just wear. So, it's not like a separate device. And that is like, it just kind of plants the seed in my brain where I'm like, if you're able to extract that much information about posture, could you then make this a wearable that assist folks that are doing general physiotherapy and getting their movements in to heal from some sort of injury? Or for the average Joe on a day-to-day basis, could you use that to collect health data and provide, I don't know, more detailed feedback in terms of how your muscles are responding to different stimuli?Daniel:&nbsp;That's exactly where my brain went to man. Like Nellie and I are, we're in the pain cave right now for marathon training. Like we're in the thick of it. We're a couple of weeks out from the marathon race and we're dealing with some nagging injuries. And one of the things that they say potentially a lot of these injuries stem from is like poor form, poor running form, which is basically just your posture while you're running and then overuse of your muscles in that poor posture and I went exactly there too, man. I'm like, well, this is just focusing on posture of your neck and shoulders. What if there were other, I could put on a different type of harness or belt that looks at the posture of my hips and my glutes and my legs during my running, or look at the pronation of my feet, socks that look at the pronation of my feet during running and try and give me active reminders to correct my form and do it in a proper way. Also think about like lifting weights. People get hurt all the time lifting weights because they're doing it with the wrong form. They put on too much weight, they're trying to be strong, and then they do it the wrong way, and then bang, they injure the rotator cuff in their shoulder. Like there's a lot of other types of posture, not just the one that's when we're sedentary at our desk, that matters a lot to how our bodies perform and recover and interact with the world around us. I think that straight up starting with this, but they could absolutely apply this technology to other types of applications and get similar results.Farbod: Me too. It's crazy that you and I both went to the same spot given that I spend most of my time in a chair and you spent most of your time getting ready for a marathon. So, great minds think alike despite how lazy they might be.Daniel: I don't, I think I'm an equal amount of lazy. We're just, we're signed up for it. We're committed at this point, going to try and make it across the finish line. But I do want to mention, I think in terms of pros and cons. This wearable definitely could help lots and lots of people. I don't know from an adoption perspective; how many people are gonna be more willing to put this thing on. It looks a little bit more like a bra, like a harness than it does like a necklace. Feels a lot easier to try and convince someone like, oh, put on this necklace versus like put on this harness every single day. That being said, it does look like it's pretty sleek. Does look like it won't, you don't have to wear it over your clothes and it does look like it would be pretty form fitting. So, I think that that's interesting. I would be interested in how many, how many people of the millions of people suffering from posture related back pain would be willing to adopt this. But that goes to my pros, which is like, it seems like they've challenged, they overcome a lot of the challenges with AI based feedback system. Seems like they've overcome a lot of the challenges related to sustainability, right? Using haptic feedback and encouraging the person to use the right posture instead of forcing them to use the right posture. That feels like it's more sustainable. Having sensor accuracy in diverse environments, right? You want to get reminded to have correct posture when you're sitting. You maybe don't care too much if you're bending down to pick up the pencil off the ground. Like those, that's crucial in real world use. I would love to see how this compares with a competitor like Upright. And we've kind of alluded to it a couple of times, but these folks have created their own company called StraightUp. I think based on their website, I was on it earlier today, they're planning on launching in Kickstarter in 163 days. They've got a countdown, which is pretty cool. So, we'll definitely be following you, StraightUp team. And we'd love to see how this, how this tech solution continues to evolve and develop and hopefully make it to market and make a lot of impact. I say this on so many podcast episodes, but my biggest pet peeve about technology is when someone develops it and it could impact a lot of people and then it sits on a shelf and collects dust. This team from StraightUp is doing the exact opposite, right? They're taking their technology and sprinting to market as fast as they can, which is something that I really, really appreciate.Farbod:&nbsp;Yeah, and as a listener, if you're interested in something like this, make sure you check out their page, give them support as they launch. If you got feedback, it's a perfect time to just kind of get in on the ground floor and voice your opinions.Daniel: Yeah, I'm with you. And well, in addition to the article, which we, every single time, link in the show notes, we're gonna also link StraightUp's website so you can check it out and check out some of their content and watch the countdown till the Kickstarter launch, the way that I'm going to for the next 163 days and 11 hours and 53 minutes and five seconds.Farbod: If only it was before your marathon. Alas. All right, man, you wanna give us a quick wrap up?Daniel:&nbsp;Yes, I do. Do your neck and back hurt after hours of slouching at your desk, staring at your phone? If yes, like Farbod and me, you're not alone. Poor posture is pretty much our modern-day epidemic. Millions of people in the world struggle with their back and their neck pain that's caused specifically by poor posture, but a lot of the solutions out there, like braces actually just limit your mobility instead of training your body to do the right thing. So, what if your clothes or a slim wearable could silently train you to sit and stand correctly all day long? Enter the startup called StraightUp. They developed a slim wearable device that uses AI and sensors woven into the fabric to help correct your posture with the gentle vibrations, just training your body, teaching your body over time to move and to hold the right posture. I think of this as like the Garmin for exercise or the aura ring for sleep, but this is for posture I wonder if one day millions of people in the world will be using StraightUp to move the posture game forward in the future.Farbod:&nbsp;Money that was straight-up money.Daniel:&nbsp;Thanks, dawg.Farbod:&nbsp;Anytime. All right folks. Thank you so much for listening as always. We'll catch in the next one.Daniel:&nbsp;Peace.<hr id="isPasted">As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">&nbsp;Apple</a> podcasts,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">&nbsp;Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!--The Next Byte: We're two engineers on a mission to simplify complex science &amp; technology, making it easy to understand. In each episode of our show, we dive into world-changing tech (such as AI, robotics, 3D printing, IoT, &amp; much more), all while keeping it entertaining &amp; engaging along the way.

In this episode, we explore an innovative and sustainable wearable device designed by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to improve posture and we discuss why AI isn’t just a novelty in this product but a core feature that sets it apart from the rest!

Podcast: You Don't Stand Straight But This AI Wearable Will Fix It

Motion Capture Accelerates Uganda’s Game Development IndustryA tale that has evolved since 2004, Sunjata is the project that will take the Ugandan video game industry – and then the world – by storm. But first, the small team at Klan Of The Kings needed the tools to bring their vision to life.&nbsp;Comic artist and African folklore lover, Ronald Kayima, had a sizeable task in front of him when transforming his story into a video game. Sunjata immerses players in a world of African mythology, ancient tales, and stunning visuals, designed to celebrate the continent’s illustrious history and educate those who haven’t had the opportunity to learn about it before. In an Assassin’s Creed-style game, warrior protagonist Kaar Menelik fights against the gods to save his community.&nbsp;A brief historyThrough founder Ronald’s comic book creations, he met Hannington, a talented 3D artist who took to Sunjata at first sight. From there, with expert advice from collaborators Hans de Heer and Phillip Mukasa, the burgeoning team transformed the plotline into a cinematic, photorealistic game.&nbsp;Without a well established game development industry in Uganda, finding the resources to produce a AAA game was a challenging feat for the team to face. The gaming industry and Ugandan game developers have been virtually non-existent – until now. Sunjata is up to the task of setting the tone for an industry that has yet to break out.Part of the development team’s goal is to establish Uganda as a player on the global games stage. To do that, they need to push for the highest quality content possible, and have it reach outside of the country. “Every milestone we hit, I see it spark a certain level of change in our industry down here,” explains Ronald.&nbsp;Challenges and opportunities Klan Of The Kings opted to use Unreal Engine to build Sunjata, with Ronald learning the software from YouTube videos. The consistent tutorials eventually led him to an Xsens case study demonstrating the use of motion capture in game design.&nbsp;Upon using the motion technology, Ronald found the process “very user-friendly and very easy to implement” into Sunjata, making a small team’s large workload a little lighter. “The process also allowed us to create some high-quality, cinematic trailers,” adds Ronald. “That gave us the polish we need to get noticed.” The natural next step was to fully integrate the Xsens tool into Klan of Kings’ current and future projects.Because there is no established Ugandan game development industry, the team felt that they had to get it right the first time. The pressure to stand out from the crowd and prove themselves was immense, leading to development staying under the radar so it “can really be looked at from a Western, developed point of view,” Hans van Linschoten, entrepreneur and collaborator, explained. Due to some perceived prejudices, the team had to prove themselves to the larger games industry. Finding a sense of unity in the project was proving difficult, due to a lack of belief in the project and the entities in their own skills, resulting in a smaller team and a whole lot of work in front of them.&nbsp;An abundance of dataMotion capture helped Ronald and the team transform the game's animated elements, giving Sunjata a true AAA feel. While the game is currently around halfway through development, the team has access to tools that will help them to capture 3D motion free of needing a stage or cameras. This, paired with the Xsens demonstration videos and support, gives the team the ability to develop high-end content despite the lack of resources in Uganda.&nbsp;Previously difficult-to-execute tasks were made easier by having the tools to digitally replicate human motion, posture, and gait to uplift their animations and gameplay to AAA status competitive with the Western industry. As the game is completely original and high-concept, anything they wanted to add to the game was now simple due to the use of motion capture sensors and instant digital data transfers.What’s next?Sunjata is halfway into development, with the second half predicted to accelerate thanks to Unreal Engine and Xsens.&nbsp;Klan of the Kings remains a small team of four permanent members, but Ronald notes that the amount of talent he comes across in Uganda is immense, and “there’s not enough high-level content coming out yet.” With that, Ronald and the team wish to “push that agenda and really make sure that content does come out of the country on a high level.”&nbsp;With Xsens, Klan of Kings was able to deliver high-quality gameplay that matched their expectations. In a sector with currently limited options, we could provide the gear to enable a higher level of technological creativity.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21QAEYErJsc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trailers</a> for the game are available now, featuring gameplay, a hint to the story and, of course, beautiful introductory visuals created with Unreal Engine and <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xsens motion capture</a> technology.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21QAEYErJsc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;</iframe>

with Xsens Motion Capture

Motion Capture Revolution in Uganda

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/d57569bc-03b3-422f-b7d5-738ddd6707a9?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Back pain is one of the main causes of everyday discomfort and sick leave in the western world. The reason for this is often a lack of exercise in the sedentary office routine combined with a lack of compensatory activities such as sport and gymnastics. The aim of the spin-off StraightUp by three graduates of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is to combat back pain in the long term and sustainably with an innovative idea. To this end, they have developed a wearable textile product that uses woven elastic wires and appropriate sensors to measure the shoulder position and inclination of the back and ensures a sustainable improvement in posture through haptic feedback.Previous posture stabilizers are designed to simply fix the back, which in the long term severely limits the mobility of the user. Other approaches with built-in inclination sensors that trigger a vibration impulse when the body bends forward have the disadvantage that many everyday and sports activities take place in a forward-leaning position and thus lead to incorrect vibration impulses.<h2>Novel approach using elastic metal alloy and AI implementation</h2>The spin-off StraightUp is tackling this problem with an innovative idea. Erik Vautrin, Marcus Hamann-Schroer and Jan Bartenbach, three KIT graduates, in collaboration with physiotherapist Tobias Baierle, developed the vision of a wearable textile that can measure the shoulder position and inclination of the back using elastic wires incorporated into the fabric. Using the data obtained from this and a woven-in chip controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), the system generates haptic feedback through vibrations, which is intended to encourage users to correct their posture. The use of the sensors in the wearable was made possible by a conductive super-elastic metal alloy that adapts to the movements of the person wearing it. "Through the haptic feedback, the body learns to maintain a healthier posture on its own, which leads to long-term improvement. The feedback system promotes active shoulder blade stabilization and posture correction of the spine," explains Baierle. The wearable can be worn in everyday life as well as during leisure and sports activities.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzI2MTAxNjg5MjI5LTIwMjRfMDY5X0lubm92YXRpdmVzIFdlYXJhYmxlX0tvZXJwZXJoYWx0dW5nIG5hY2hoYWx0aWcgdmVyYmVzc2VybkJpbGQyXzcyZHBpLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Sustainable support for the back: StraightUp's concept relies on sensors, AI and haptic feedback. (Photo: StraightUp)<h2 id="isPasted">Further steps on the way to spin-off and market readiness</h2>The team is currently working with the German Institute for Textile and Fiber Research to enable the best possible integration of the sensors into the wearable. "This partnership brings us a big step closer to market readiness," explains Vautrin. In collaboration with doctors, physiotherapists and other specialists, optimization tests are to take place this year. The aim is to test the further developed product with potential customers at the end of the year.<h2>Support for founders at KIT</h2>The three founders of StraightUp met in the course “Microsystem product design for young entrepreneurs” at KIT. “In the course we learned the basics of developing and implementing a product idea. We also learned practical things like writing a business plan,” explains Bartenbach. The young team then met the physiotherapist Baierle through a lecturer.On their journey so far, the founders have used the support options at KIT. These include the KIT start-up forge and other offers from the KIT's Innovation and Relations Management (IRM) service unit. With the support of IRM, the StraightUp team successfully acquired an EXIST start-up grant for preparation and early-stage financing of the upcoming spin-off. "From the very beginning, we had a great impression of the competence of the individual people and how they interact with each other in the StraightUp team," says Dr. Rolf Blattner, Business Development Manager at IRM.&nbsp;

In the future, StraightUp could improve posture in everyday office life and thus reduce back pain, as demonstrated here in the prototype. (Photo: StraightUp)

KIT spin-off StraightUp aims to permanently relieve posture-related back pain

Innovative Wearable: Sustainably Improving Posture

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a rapidly growing global problem, and it’s expected to worsen with the production of new kinds of flexible electronics for robotics, wearable devices, health monitors, and other new applications, including single-use devices.A new kind of flexible substrate material developed at MIT, the University of Utah, and Meta has the potential to enable not only the recycling of materials and components at the end of a device’s useful life, but also the scalable manufacture of more complex multilayered circuits than existing substrates provide.The development of this new material is described this week in the journal&nbsp;RSC: Applied Polymers, in a&nbsp;<a href="http://doi.org/10.1039/D4LP00182F" target="_blank">paper</a> by MIT Professor Thomas J. Wallin, University of Utah Professor Chen Wang, and seven others.“We recognize that electronic waste is an ongoing global crisis that’s only going to get worse as we continue to build more devices for the internet of things, and as the rest of the world develops,” says Wallin, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. To date, much academic research on this front has aimed at developing alternatives to conventional substrates for flexible electronics, which primarily use a polymer called Kapton, a trade name for polyimide.Most such research has focused on entirely different polymer materials, but “that really ignores the commercial side of it, as to why people chose the materials they did to begin with,” Wallin says. Kapton has many advantages, including excellent thermal and insulating properties and ready availability of source materials.The polyimide business is projected to be a $4 billion global market by 2030. “It’s everywhere, in every electronic device basically,” including parts such as the flexible cables that interconnect different components inside your cellphone or laptop, Wang explains. It’s also widely used in aerospace applications because of its high heat tolerance. “It’s a classic material, but it has not been updated for three or four decades,” he says.However, it’s also virtually impossible to melt or dissolve Kapton, so it can’t be reprocessed. The same properties also make it harder to manufacture the circuits into advanced architectures, such as multilayered electronics. The traditional way of making Kapton involves heating the material to anywhere from 200 to 300 degrees Celsius. “It’s a rather slow process. It takes hours,” Wang says.The alternative material that the team developed, which is itself a form of polyimide and therefore should be easily compatible with existing manufacturing infrastructure, is a light-cured polymer similar to those now used by dentists to create tough, durable fillings that cure in a few seconds with ultraviolet light. Not only is this method of hardening the material comparatively fast, it can operate at room temperature.The new material could serve as the substrate for multilayered circuits, which provides a way of greatly increasing the number of components that can be packed into a small form factor. Previously, since the Kapton substrate doesn’t melt easily, the layers had to be glued together, which adds steps and costs to the process. The fact that the new material can be processed at low-temperature while also hardening very quickly on demand could open up possibilities for new multilayer devices, Wang says.As for recyclability, the team introduced subunits into the polymer backbone that can be rapidly dissolved away by an alcohol and catalyst solution. Then, precious metals used in the circuits, as well as entire microchips, can be recovered from the solution and reused for new devices.“We designed the polymer with ester groups in the backbone,” unlike traditional Kapton, Wang explains. These ester groups can be easily broken apart by a fairly mild solution that removes the substrate while leaving the rest of the device unharmed. Wang notes that the University of Utah team has co-founded a company to commercialize the technology.&nbsp;“We break the polymer back into its original small molecules. Then we can collect the expensive electronic components and reuse them,” Wallin adds. “We all know about the supply chain shortage with chips and some materials. The rare earth minerals that are in those components are highly valuable. And so we think that there’s a huge economic incentive now, as well as an environmental one, to make these processes for the recapture of these components.”The research team included Caleb Reese and Grant Musgrave at the University of Utah, and Jenn Wong, Wenyang Pan, John Uehlin, Mason Zadan and Omar Awartani at Meta’s Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington. The work was supported by a startup fund at the Price College of Engineering at the University of Utah.

A new kind of flexible substrate material developed at MIT, the University of Utah, and Meta could help combat e-waste. Credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT; iStock

Electronic waste is a rapidly growing problem, but this degradable material could allow the recycling of parts from many single-use and wearable devices.

New substrate material for flexible electronics could help combat e-waste

In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking invisible mask developed by a University of Michigan spin-off that is equipped with a wearable air curtain capable of killing viruses and blocking 99.8% of aerosols.

Podcast: Invisible Shield: Blocking Germs with Wearable Tech

Nestled amidst the quaint towns and rolling hills of England lies the fictional town of Anghenfil, a place where whispers of a long-forgotten legend echo through the cobbled streets. However, the legend is about to become a terrifying reality in Every Legend Ends, a captivating fantasy film written and directed by UK-based filmmaker Ryan Garry.A Monster Awakens, a Hero EmergesThe film delves into the heart-pounding tale of a monstrous entity, slumbering for centuries beneath the earth. When the creature awakens, its rage unleashes a wave of destruction upon the unsuspecting town of Anghenfil. As fear and chaos grip the community, an unlikely hero emerges, determined to confront the beast and protect their home.Garry envisioned the film as a high-concept film, drawing inspiration from the epic grandeur of "The Lord of the Rings" and the action-packed thrills of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, achieving this level of visual storytelling presented a significant challenge for an independent production.Xsens Mocap: Breathing Life into the Monster<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QfXj0KFSUI8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>Behind the scenes: Xsens mocap brings monster vs. soldier fight to life!Creating a believable monster on screen is no easy feat. It requires careful consideration of both storytelling and technical execution. Garry anticipated challenges in syncing the monster's movements with live-action performers and ensuring realistic and fluid monster movements.Garry turned to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">motion capture</a>, and Xsens became the secret weapon for bringing the film to life. Xsens offered the freedom to deploy the technology in various environments, a crucial factor considering the film's diverse shooting locations. From the damp and cavernous depths of Crank Caverns to the historic brickwork of the Williamson Tunnels, Xsens' lightweight and portable design allowed for seamless filming without technical limitations.The nature of the production needed efficient use of time and resources. With quick and easy setup, Xsens' self-powered system eliminated the need for bulky generators or cumbersome electrical setups, enabling the crew to work efficiently and capture scenes swiftly, even in remote locations.Unlike optical motion capture that requires separate recordings and post-production adjustments, Xsens allowed for simultaneous capture of the monster and live-action actors on set. This resulted in seamless interaction between the characters, enhancing the film's realism. A prime example is the thrilling fight scene between the monster and an armed response soldier, where Xsens' real-time capabilities eliminated the need for extensive post-production work.Capturing the nuances and complexities of the monster's movements, especially during fast-paced fight scenes, was crucial for creating a believable creature. Xsens mocap's accuracy ensured smooth and natural movements.The system's precision minimized the need for extensive post-production adjustments, saving valuable time and resources. The high-fidelity mocap data ensured the monster's movements appeared natural and believable, significantly contributing to the film's immersive experience.Every Legend Ends stands as a testament to the power of imagination and the ability of Xsens mocap technology to empower independent filmmakers. By embracing this cutting-edge technology, Garry has defied the limitations of independent production and crafted a visually stunning and captivating film, proving that even with limited resources, one can breathe life into a captivating story and create a truly immersive cinematic experience.The film is expected to be released later this year. &nbsp;Here is the trailer:&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_fcgLke8mc0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>

with Xsens motion capture

Breathing Life Into A Legend With Xsens Motion Capture

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3abf3abd-f178-48f1-9ff4-5e723ec91b2e?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-24="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>In the age of technology everywhere, we are all too familiar with the inconvenience of a dead battery. But for those relying on a wearable healthcare device to monitor glucose, reduce tremors, or even track heart function, taking time to recharge can pose a big risk.For the first time, researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering have shown that a healthcare device can be powered using body heat alone. By combining a pulse oximetry sensor with a flexible, stretchable, wearable thermoelectric energy generator composed of liquid metal, semiconductors, and 3D printed rubber, the team has introduced a promising way to address battery life concerns.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nG7nwxcTPGo?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-24="true" id="47735172" title="First healthcare device powered by body heat alone">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>“This is the first step towards battery-free wearable electronics,” said Mason Zadan, Ph.D. candidate and first author of the research published in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202404861" target="_blank">Advanced Functional Materials</a>.The system, designed to achieve high mechanical and thermoelectric performance with seamless materials integration, features advancements in soft-materials, TEG array design, low energy circuit board design, and on-board power management.“Compared to our past research, this design improves power density by roughly 40 times or 4,000%. The liquid metal epoxy composite enhances thermal conductivity between the thermoelectric component and the device’s point of contact on the body,” explained Carmel Majidi, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the <a href="http://sml.me.cmu.edu/" target="_blank">Soft Machines Laboratory</a>.<blockquote>Compared to our past research, this design improves power density by roughly 40 times or 4,000%.<cite>Carmel Majidi, Professor, Mechanical Engineering</cite></blockquote>To test its voltage output, the device was worn on a participant’s chest and wrist at rest and in motion.“We saw greater output while the device was on the participant’s wrist and while they were in motion,” Zadan said. “As the participant moves, one side of the device is cooled by the increase in airflow, and the other is heated from the rise in body temperature. Walking and running created an ideal temperature differential.”Moving forward, Dinesh K. Patel, a research scientist on the team, is eager to work on improving electrical performance and explore how to additively manufacture the device. “We want to move it from a proof-of-concept into a product people can start using.”This research was done in collaboration with Arieca Inc, The University of Washington, and Seoul National University.

The wearable combines a pulse oximetry sensor with a flexible, stretchable, wearable thermoelectric energy generator composed of liquid metal, semiconductors, and 3D printed rubber.

Researchers address battery-life concerns with a new material system that can power a pulse ox with bodyheat alone.

First healthcare device powered by body heat made possible with liquid-based metals

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/fa3eafdc-1690-4de7-a0e6-d7704c5f0fda?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-23="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>An air curtain shooting down from the brim of a hard hat can prevent 99.8% of aerosols from reaching a worker’s face. The technology, created by University of Michigan startup Taza Aya, potentially offers a new protection option for workers in industries where respiratory disease transmission is a concern.Independent, third-party testing of <a href="https://taza-aya.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taza Aya</a>‘s device showed the effectiveness of the air curtain, curved to encircle the face, coming from nozzles at the hat’s brim. But for the air curtain to effectively protect against pathogens in the room, it must first be cleansed of pathogens itself. Previous research by the group of Taza Aya co-founder <a href="https://cee.engin.umich.edu/people/clack-herek-l/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herek Clack</a>, U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, showed that their method can remove and kill 99% of airborne viruses in farm and laboratory settings.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iGMXfB-g0bY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-23="true" id="796891634" title="An invisible, virus-killing mask">&nbsp;</iframe>“Our air curtain technology is precisely designed to protect wearers from airborne infectious pathogens, using treated air as a barrier in which any pathogens present have been inactivated so that they are no longer able to infect you if you breathe them in,” Clack said. “It’s virtually unheard of—our level of protection against airborne germs, especially when combined with the improved ergonomics it also provides.”Fire has been used throughout history for sterilization, and while we might not usually think of it this way, it’s what’s known as a thermal plasma. Nonthermal, or cold, plasmas are made of highly energetic, electrically charged molecules and molecular fragments that achieve a similar effect without the heat. Those ions and molecules stabilize quickly, becoming ordinary air before reaching the curtain nozzles.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzIxMDAxMTUwMTY3LVdvcmtlci1wcm90ZWN0aW9uMy0xMjgweDcyMC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Taza Aya’s Worker Wearable Protection device keeps airborne virus particles from reaching a workers mouth and nose with an air curtain. That air is pre-treated to kill any viruses. Photo: Jeremy Little, Michigan EngineeringTaza Aya’s prototype features a backpack, weighing roughly 10 pounds, that houses the nonthermal plasma module, air handler, electronics and the unit’s battery pack. The handler draws air into the module, where it’s treated before flowing to the air curtain’s nozzle array.Taza Aya’s progress comes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of a summer when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported four cases of humans testing positive for bird flu. During the pandemic, agriculture suffered disruptions in meat production due to shortages in labor, which had a direct impact on prices, the availability of some products and the extended supply chain.In recent months, Taza Aya has conducted user experience testing with workers at Michigan Turkey Producers in Wyoming, Michigan, a processing plant that practices the humane handling of birds. The plant is home to hundreds of workers, many of them coming into direct contact with turkeys during their work day.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzIxMDAxMTcwMjI2LVN1aXRpbmctdXAuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Herek Clack, a U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-founder of Taza Aya, helps Michigan Turkey Producers employee, Blanca Chaidez, adjust a helmet that will protect her from infectious aerosols with an air curtain rather than a face mask. Photo: Jeremy Little, Michigan EngineeringTo date, paper masks have been the main strategy for protecting employees in such large-scale agriculture productions. But on a noisy production line, where many workers speak English as a second language, masks further reduce the ability of workers to communicate by muffling voices and hiding facial clues.“During COVID, it was a problem for many plants—the masks were needed, but they prevented good communication with our associates,” said Tina Conklin, Michigan Turkey’s vice president of technical services. &nbsp;In addition, the effectiveness of masks is reliant on a tight seal over the mouth and noise to ensure proper filtration, which can change minute to minute during a workday. Masks can also fog up safety goggles, and they have to be removed for workers to eat. Taza Aya’s technology avoids all of those problems.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzIxMDAxMTg4ODU4LU9uLXRoZS1qb2IuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Michigan Turkey Producers employee, Blanca Chaidez, wears Taza Aya’s Worker Wearable Protection equipment as she prepares for her work shift. Photo: Jeremy Little, Michigan EngineeringAs a researcher at U-M, Clack spent years exploring the use of <a href="https://news.engin.umich.edu/2020/03/non-thermal-plasma-can-inactivate-airborne-viral-threat-to-pigs/" target="_blank">nonthermal plasma to protect livestock</a>. With the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020, he quickly pivoted to how the technology might be used for personal protection from airborne pathogens.In October of that year, Taza Aya was named an awardee in the Invisible Shield QuickFire Challenge—a competition created by Johnson &amp; Johnson Innovation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program sought to encourage the development of technologies that could protect people from airborne viruses while having a minimal impact on daily life.“We are pleased with the study results as we embark on this journey,” said Alberto Elli, Taza Aya’s CEO. “This real-world product and user testing experience will help us successfully launch the Worker Wearable in 2025.”Clack and the University of Michigan have a financial interest in Taza Aya.

Headworn tech from U-M startup could protect agricultural and industrial workers from airborne pathogens.

An invisible mask? Wearable air curtain, treated to kill viruses, blocks 99.8 percent of aerosols

To advance soft robotics, skin-integrated electronics and biomedical devices, researchers at Penn State have developed a 3D-printed material that is soft and stretchable — traits needed for matching the properties of tissues and organs — and that self-assembles. Their approach employs a process that eliminates many drawbacks of previous fabrication methods, such as less conductivity or device failure, the team said. &nbsp;They published their results in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202400082" target="_blank">Advanced Materials</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;“People have been developing soft and stretchable conductors for almost a decade, but the conductivity is not usually very high,” said corresponding author Tao Zhou, Penn State assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics and of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering and of materials science and engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “Researchers realized they could reach high conductivity with liquid metal-based conductors, but the significant limitation of that is that it requires a secondary method to activate the material before it can reach a high conductivity.”&nbsp;Liquid metal-based stretchable conductors suffer from inherent complexity and challenges posed by the post-fabrication activation process, the researchers said. The secondary activation methods include stretching, compressing, shear friction, mechanical sintering and laser activation, all of which can lead to challenges in fabrication and can cause the liquid metal to leak, resulting in device failure. &nbsp;&nbsp;“Our method does not require any secondary activation to make the material conductive,” said Zhou, who also has affiliations with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Materials Research Institute. “The material can self-assemble to make its bottom surface be very conductive and its top surface self-insulated.”&nbsp;In the new method, the researchers combine liquid metal, a conductive polymer mixture called PEDOT:PSS and hydrophilic polyurethane that enables the liquid metal to transform into particles. When the composite soft material is printed and heated, the liquid metal particles on its bottom surface self-assemble into a conductive pathway. The particles in the top layer are exposed to an oxygen-rich environment and oxidize, forming an insulated top layer. The conductive layer is critical for conveying information to the sensor — such as muscle activity recordings and strain sensing on the body — while the insulated layer helps prevent signal leakage that could lead to less accurate data collection.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1719495196118-240205-psnbody1-tao.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The new material, shown here, can self-assemble to make its bottom surface conductive and its top surface self-insulated. Credit: Marzia Momin. All Rights Reserved.“Our innovation here is a materials one,” Zhou said. “Normally, when liquid metal mixes with polymers, they are not conductive and require secondary activation to achieve conductivity. But these three components allow for the self-assembly that produces the high conductivity of soft and stretchable material without a secondary activation method.” &nbsp;The material can also be 3D-printed, Zhou said, making it easier to fabricate wearable devices. The researchers are continuing to explore potential applications, with a focus on assistive technology for people with disabilities.&nbsp;The papers other authors are Salahuddin Ahmed, Marzia Momin and Jiashu Ren, all doctoral students in the Penn State engineering science and mechanics department, and Hyunjin Lee, a doctoral student in the biomedical engineering department at Penn State. This work was supported by the National Taipei University of Technology-Penn State Collaborative Seed Grant Program and by the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, the Materials Research Institute and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1719495222063-240205-psnbody2-tao.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The researchers 3D print the novel material.&nbsp;Credit: Marzia Momin. All Rights Reserved.

Penn State researchers developed a new soft and stretchable material that can be 3D-printed. The material can be used to fabricate wearable devices, such a sensor that can be worn on a finger, as shown here. Credit: Marzia Momin. All Rights Reserved.

To advance soft robotics, skin-integrated electronics and biomedical devices, researchers at Penn State have developed a 3D-printed material that is soft and stretchable — traits needed for matching the properties of tissues and organs — and that self-assembles.

Self-assembling, highly conductive sensors could improve wearable devices

Human brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, involve damage in more than one region of the brain, requiring technology that could precisely and flexibly address all affected regions simultaneously. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a noninvasive technology combining a holographic acoustic device with genetic engineering that allows them to precisely target affected neurons in the brain, creating the potential to precisely modulate selected cell types in multiple diseased brain regions.&nbsp;Hong Chen, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering and of neurosurgery in the School of Medicine, and her team created AhSonogenetics, or Airy-beam holographic sonogenetics, a technique that uses a noninvasive wearable ultrasound device to alter genetically selected neurons in the brains of mice. Results of the proof-of-concept study were published in&nbsp;Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 17, 2024.&nbsp;AhSonogenetics brings together several of Chen’s group’s recent advances into one technology. In 2021, she and her team launched&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2021/First-in-class-tool-for-potential-treatment-of-brain-disorders.html" target="_blank">Sonogenetics</a>, a method that uses focused ultrasound to deliver a viral construct containing ultrasound-sensitive ion channels to genetically selected neurons in the brain. They use low-intensity focused ultrasound to deliver a small burst of warmth, which opens the ion channels and activates the neurons. Chen’s team was the first to show that&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2021/First-in-class-tool-for-potential-treatment-of-brain-disorders.html" target="_blank">sonogenetics could modulate the behavior of freely moving mice</a>.In 2022, she and members of her lab designed and 3D-printed a flexible and versatile tool known as an&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2022/New-practical-method-of-producing-Airy-beams-could-enhance-ultrasound.html" target="_blank">Airy beam-enabled binary acoustic metasurface</a> that allowed them to manipulate ultrasound beams. She also is developing&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2023/Genetic-engineering-delivered-with-ultrasound-studied-to-treat-brain-disorders.html" target="_blank">Sonogenetics 2.0</a>, which combines the advantage of ultrasound and genetic engineering to modulate defined neurons noninvasively and precisely in the brains of humans and animals. AhSonogenetics brings them together as a potential method to intervene in neurodegenerative diseases.&nbsp;“By enabling precise and flexible cell-type-specific neuromodulation without invasive procedures, AhSonogenetics provides a powerful tool for investigating intact neural circuits and offers promising interventions for neurological disorders,” Chen said.&nbsp;Sonogenetics gives researchers a way to precisely control the brains, while airy-beam technology allows researchers to bend or steer the sound waves to generate arbitrary beam patterns inside the brain with a high spatial resolution. Yaoheng (Mack) Yang, a postdoctoral research associate who earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering from McKelvey Engineering in 2022, said the technology gives the researchers three unique advantages.“Airy beam is the technology that can give us precise targeting of a smaller region than conventional technology, the flexibility to steer to the targeted brain regions, and to target multiple brain regions simultaneously,” Yang said.Chen and her team, including first authors Zhongtao Hu, a former postdoctoral research associate, and Yang, designed each Airy-beam metasurface individually as the foundation for wearable ultrasound devices that were tailored for different applications and for precise locations in the brain.Chen’s team tested the technique on a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. With AhSonogenetics, they were able to stimulate two brain regions simultaneously in a single mouse, eliminating the need for multiple implants or interventions. This stimulation alleviated Parkinson’s-related motor deficits in the mouse model, including slow movements, difficulty walking and freezing behaviors.The team’s Airy-beam device overcomes some of the limits of sonogenetics, including tailoring the design of the device to target specific brain locations, as well as incorporating the flexibility to adjust target locations in a single brain.Hu said the device, which costs roughly $50 to make, can be tailored in size to fit various brain sizes, expanding its potential applications.&nbsp;“This technology can be used as a research platform to speed neuroscience research because of the capability to flexibly target different brain regions,” Hu said. “The affordability and ease of fabrication lower the barriers to the widespread adoption of our proposed devices by the research community for neuromodulation applications.”<hr>Hu Z, Yang Y, Gong Y, Chukwu C, Ye D, Yue Y, Yuan J, Kravitz AV, Chen H. Airy-beam holographic sonogenetics for advancing neuromodulation precision and flexibility. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 17, 2024, DOI:&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2402200121" target="_blank">10.1073/pnas.2402200121</a>.&nbsp;Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (R01NS12846, R01MH116981, UG3MH126861, R01EB027223, R01EB030102).The design file for the Airy-beam holographic transducer is available on GitHub:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/ChenUltrasoundLabWUSTL/AiryBeam_Lens_Design" target="_blank">https://github.com/ChenUltrasoundLabWUSTL/AiryBeam_Lens_Design</a>.

McKelvey School of Engineering researchers have developed a noninvasive technology combining a holographic acoustic device with genetic engineering that allows them to precisely target affected neurons in the brain, creating the potential to precisely modulate selected cell types in multiple diseased brain regions. (Credit: Yaoheng Yang)

Hong Chen and her lab develop wearable device that modulates brain neurons in mice

New technology allows researchers to precisely, flexibly modulate brain

Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, hold immense potential for individuals with a wide range of neurological conditions, but the road to implementation is long and nuanced for both the invasive and noninvasive versions of the technology. <a href="https://engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/he-bin.html" target="_blank">Bin He</a> of Carnegie Mellon University is highly driven to improve noninvasive BCIs, and his lab uses an innovative electroencephalogram (EEG) wearable to push the boundaries of what’s possible. For the first time on record, the group successfully integrated a novel focused ultrasound stimulation to realize bidirectional BCI that both encodes and decodes brain waves using machine learning in a study with 25 human subjects. This work opens up a new avenue to significantly enhance not only the signal quality, but also, overall nonivasive BCI performance by stimulating targeted neural circuits.Noninvasive BCI is lauded for its merits of being cheap, safe, and virtually applicable to everyone, but because signals are recorded over the scalp versus inside the brain, low signal quality presents some limitations. The He group is exploring ways to improve the effectiveness of noninvasive BCIs and, over time, has used deep learning approaches to decode what an individual was thinking and then facilitate control of a cursor or robotic arm.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EoKHw6bdoZs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>In their latest research, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48576-8.epdf?sharing_token=l63IL0ujKJwg9YW5RiuvmdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0N_uPWXwoTWkVO_kYNoQfCvZ9eb-1HxHFUK4NM7oxILM0CfREmenUY3abynvgquHLRn_7RPWL1rZyFXqJCnBSQm10CXtHA62yRq2BlSAcVQCigM1TtLWtL1uYkOTXn0ObY%3D" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Nature CommunicationsOpens in new window</a>,&nbsp;the He group demonstrated that through precision noninvasive neuromodulation using focused ultrasound, the performance of a BCI could be improved for communication.“This paper reports a breakthrough in noninvasive BCIs by integrating a novel focused ultrasound stimulation to realize bidirectional BCI functionality,” explained Bin He, professor of <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/bme/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">biomedical engineeringOpens in new window</a> at Carnegie Mellon University. “Using a communication prosthetic, 25 human subjects spelled out phrases like ‘Carnegie Mellon’ using a BCI speller. Our findings showed that the addition of focused ultrasound neuromodulation significantly boosted the performance of EEG-based BCI. It also elevated theta neural oscillation that enhanced attention and led to enhanced BCI performance.”<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1718173646497-ezgif-2-339b99d07b.gif" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This video shows the BCI speller progress used by study subjects to spell “Carnegie Mellon.”For context, a BCI speller is a 6x6 visual motion aide containing the entire alpabet that is commonly used by nonspeakers to communicate. In He’s study, subjects donned an EEG cap and just by looking at the letters, were able to generate EEG signals to spell the desired words. When a focused ultrasound beam was applied externally to the V5 area (part of the visual cortex) of the brain, the performance of the noninvasive BCI greatly improved among subjects. The neuromodulation-integrated BCI actively altered the engagement of neural circuits to maximize the BCI performance, compared to previous uses, which consisted of pure processing and decoding recorded signals.“The BRAIN Initiative has supported more than 60 ultrasound projects since its inception. This unique application of noninvasive recording and modulation technologies expands the toolkit, with a potentially scalable impact on assisting people living with communication disabilities,” said Dr. Grace Hwang, program director at the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® initiative (The BRAIN Initiative®) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).&nbsp;<blockquote>The BRAIN Initiative has supported more than 60 ultrasound projects since its inception. This unique application of noninvasive recording and modulation technologies expands the toolkit, with a potentially scalable impact on assisting people living with communication disabilities.<cite>Grace Hwang, program director, National Institutes of Health</cite></blockquote>Following this discovery, the He lab is further investigating the merits and applications of focused ultrasound neuromodulation to the brain, beyond the visual system, to enhance noninvasive BCIs. They also aim to develop more compact-focused ultrasound neuromodulation device for better integration with EEG-based BCIs, and to integrate AI to continue to enhance the overall system performance.“This is my lifelong interest, and I will never give up,” emphasized He. “Working to improve noninvasive technology is difficult, but I strongly believe that if we can find a way to make it work, everyone will benefit. I will keep working, and someday, noninvasive lifesaving technology will be available for every household.This work was supported by NIH’s The BRAIN Initiative and the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative (NIH HEAL Initiative®), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and by the National Science Foundation.Other collaborators on the Nature Communications paper include the first author Joshua Kosnoff, BME Ph.D. student, Kai Yu, BME research scientist; and Chang Liu, former BME master’s student.

To strengthen the case for noninvasive BCIs, Carnegie Mellon researchers have demonstrated that through precision neuromodulation using focused ultrasound, the performance of a BCI could be improved for communication.

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