Scientists have developed a pair of smart gloves that could allow stroke patients with limb weakness to relearn to play the piano. The exoskeleton glove uses artificial intelligence, moving components known as actuators, and touch sensors in a way that could help patients relearn manual tasks after losing or showing a reduced ability to move hands, fingers, or wrists. The researchers said their proof-of-concept gloves “teaches” its wearer to play the piano by “feeling” the difference between right and wrong movements. We found that the glove can learn to distinguish between correct and incorrect piano play Dr Erik Engeberg Dr Erik Engeberg, a professor at Florida Atlantic University’s department of ocean & mechanical engineering, in the US, said: “We found that the glove can learn to distinguish between correct and incorrect piano play. “This means it could be a valuable tool for personalised rehabilitation of people who wish to relearn to play music.” It is estimated that there are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK today. Stroke is a leading cause of disability, with almost two thirds of survivors leaving hospital with limb weakness, visual problems, and language and communication problems. The glove is designed to assist and enhance their natural hand movements, allowing them to control the flexion and extension of their fingers Dr Erik Engeberg For the study, published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI, a team of engineers designed a pair of exoskeleton gloves that uses actuators to mimic natural hand movements. Each fingertip contains 16 sensors that allows the wearer to feel the objects they touch. Prof Engeberg said: “While wearing the glove, human users have control over the movement of each finger to a significant extent. “The glove is designed to assist and enhance their natural hand movements, allowing them to control the flexion and extension of their fingers. “The glove supplies hand guidance, providing support and amplifying dexterity.” As part of the experiments, the gloves were taught to play the nursery rhyme “Mary had a little lamb” on the piano on its own using pre-programmed movements. When a person wore the gloves to play the piano, it was able to detect where the wearer went wrong in their movements, enabling them to “understand their performance and make improvements”. The economic burden on health and social care in this country demands innovative approaches to treatment and care, which have the potential to reduce the devastating effects of stroke Juliet Bouverie, Stroke Association The researchers said further work is needed to improve the accuracy of the device and make it more adaptable. But they hope that in future, stroke patients and other people with disabilities could use these gloves to regain arm function. Commenting on the work, Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association said: “It’s an exciting time for technology in stroke research. “We welcome studies which look at creating effective tools for improving recovery after stroke. “The economic burden on health and social care in this country demands innovative approaches to treatment and care, which have the potential to reduce the devastating effects of stroke.” She added: “We hope the results of this research will help build on our current understanding to bring about effective treatments to help rebuild lives after stroke.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live The different types of public EV chargers explained Emergency number back in use after nationwide technical fault Windrush trolls taken down after public criticism

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Sperm can “defy the laws of physics”, according to new research. The laws of motion have helped us to comprehend the behaviours of the natural world for centuries, but sperm appears to go against one of the laws set down by Isaac Newton. Kenta Ishimoto and his fellow mathematical scientists from Kyoto University have revealed new research which suggests that sperm actually display qualities which don't follow Newton’s third law of motion. Science enthusiasts will know that the third law states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. However, sperm seems to go against this. According to their research, the tails of sperm known as “flagella” have an “odd elastic” quality which makes them able to travel through viscous fluids without losing much energy. While scientists would normally expect them to be slowed down by the viscous fluids, they’re able to propel themselves forward much easier than researchers would have predicted – and seemingly avoid coming into contact with an equal and opposite reaction. "From solvable simple models to biological flagellar waveforms for Chlamydomonas and sperm cells, we studied the odd-bending modulus to decipher the nonlocal, nonreciprocal inner interactions within the material,” the team behind the study said. "Odd elasticity is not a generic term for activity in solids, but rather a well-defined physical mechanism that generates active forces in solids or in other systems in which a generalized elasticity can be defined without using an elastic potential." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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