janrinok writes:
"A story to make you smile. Jason Barrow is a drummer who was electrocuted 2 years ago, resulting in the loss of his right arm below the elbow. Professor Gil Weinberg of Georgia Tech has made a prostheses which allows Jason to control 2 drumsticks with his right 'hand', while leaving his left hand free to hold a third. The article continues: 'The first stick is controlled both physically by the musicians' arms and electronically using electromyography (EMG) muscle sensors. The other stick 'listens' to the music being played and improvises.'
'Barnes will play with the device for the first time publicly on March 22 at the Robotic Musicianship Demonstration and Concert at Kennesaw State University's Bailey Performance Center. The free event, which will also feature Weinberg's Shimi robot, is part of the Atlanta Science Festival.'"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by forsythe on Sunday March 09 2014, @06:02AM
To my knowledge, this is the first story about such a prosthetic where the prosthetic has a definite advantage over the real thing in some non-trivial aspect. It may be less useful for most tasks, but Barrow can use his extra robotic drumming hand with more ease than a drummer with two normal arms could. It's not a very large advantage, as another drummer could just install the extra drumstick on a stand or something, but it's still an advantage.
By Betteridge's Law, the answer to my subject should be a clear "no", but I can't remember ever thinking that before.
(Score: 4, Informative) by hankwang on Sunday March 09 2014, @08:03AM
Oscar Pistorius [wikipedia.org] is an athlete who has prosthetics for his lower legs, which make him run really fast, although he never broke the world record for able-bodied athletes. (400 meters: world record 43.18 s versus Pistorius 45.07 s).
If you look at animals known for running fast (e.g. certain dog breeds, horses) you'll notice that they have long, thin legs, with most of the driving muscles close to the torso. Thanks to this construction, they don't have to swing a large mass at the end of their legs while running. Humans, being bipeds, have much more bottom-heavy legs. This guy doesn't have this disadvantage, and moreover has efficient springs to store energy during the leg movement cycle.
Avantslash: Slashdot+SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org].
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday March 09 2014, @02:11PM
Is it better?
Would you say it's still better by attaching that "hand" to a person with two working arms (you could strap it to the persons arm)?
Everybody could have one.
(Score: 2) by forsythe on Sunday March 09 2014, @02:46PM
I did mention that. The third drumstick could easily be controlled by a stand or anything else that's not inseparably part of the body. I see a bit of an advantage to having it actually part of the hand, compared to being strapped on, and that's what I'm talking about.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday March 09 2014, @09:02PM
Well once you have an improvising third hand drumming (I'd call that accidentals) you could just as well automate the whole drummer.
Rick Allen [ultimateclassicrock.com] simply enhanced his foot equipment, slightly simplified his style, and kept going.
Discussion should abhor vacuity, as space does a vacuum.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Sunday March 09 2014, @07:56AM
I wonder if Rick Allen of Def Leppard could make use of this sort of technology himself, but then again his entire left arm is gone, so it might be a tad more complicated to do.
Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.
(Score: 1) by camaro on Sunday March 09 2014, @10:37AM
Even if he could, I don't think he would. First, it would require him to learn a new drumming style when he probably doesn't need to. Second, it would seem out of place to hear this different style in Def Leppard's music. That being said, I'm sure Rick will be following this quite closely out of interest.
(Score: 1) by jimshatt on Sunday March 09 2014, @04:15PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 09 2014, @04:32PM
We keep reading these stories where disabled people get state-of-the-art prostheses, new limbs and eyes and ears. Smiling drummers and kids who get to walk once again. It's all fun and games until we get pretty good at this. After that it's T-1000 and chums.
(Score: 3, Informative) by siwelwerd on Sunday March 09 2014, @05:42PM
If he was electrocuted, he would have lost control of a lot more than just his arm!