Oct
10
It’s the fact that the intelligence was not “human” born, but man-made.. Though after yesterday, my perspective has shifted, and my interest for this topic increased. I had the privilege of interviewing the Director of Prosthetics at a local rehabilitation center near home sweet home (new york,new york). I was able to ask him all kinds of questions about “myoelectric prostheses” and a new technology like the “rheo knee”. Interestingly enough, these types of prostheses actually learn how to walk and move, based on knowledge gained by the patient.An ankle bracelet attached to the “good” leg, sends signals to the second leg about what the first leg is doing. This robotic knee-to-foot actually gains knowledge, and retains intelligence to keep a patient walking. This is the same kind of technology that kept Oscar Pistorious from entering the Olympics as an able-bodied athlete, because he was too abled by his prosthetic legs. Isn’t it ironic..
This field of computer science is one that I have never considered as interesting as I do now. I walked throrugh this rehabilitation lab, checking out the technology I’m learning about in the classroom, hard at work in the rehabilitation hospital. It’s things like this I get excited about - places where computer science meets the real world, and helps real people.