Georgia Tech researchers Thad Starner and Caitlyn Seim have developed a pair of gloves for playing piano that can magically get you up to speed in just an hour. They’ve also taught blind people to read braille in four hours, a process that usually takes up to four months. The gloves work through a process called passive haptic learning, and is another great discovery from Georgia Tech researchers.
Basically, they vibrate in ways that stimulate the correct movement in the user’s hands. While the applications have been impressive so far, Thad and Caitlyn believe we’re just scratching the surface. Most recently, they’re exploring how the gloves can be used to restore movement in people that have suffered traumatic brain injuries. And the results are very promising.
As one of the first people to use a wearable computer, Thad Starner has been a pioneer in wearable technology for decades.
Most people would recognize his work with Google’s Project Glass, where he works as a Technical Lead and Manager, but one of the Georgia Tech professor’s most recent wearables—gloves for playing piano—turns technology into a teaching tool via what they call passive haptic learning.
The secret is specialized vibrations that help the brain soak up knowledge even if the wearer isn’t paying attention. This has enabled Starner and his team to teach people how to play the piano in less than an hour and read braille in just a few hours. This technology is another advancement furthering the musical capabilities of humans.
But beyond the usefulness of picking up an additional skill or hobby, researchers are asking bigger questions: can the same technology that helps you passively learn also help you recover from a traumatic brain injury?
For people like Alex, who lost most of the movement and sensation in his right hand after a stroke, being independent all starts with the hands.
All the things we take for granted, like bathing, dressing, and eating, require highly specialized movements—movements that are only noticed when they’re difficult or impossible to perform. Add to that the frustration of dependency (on health care professionals, friends, family, and even strangers), and it can all take a psychological and mental toll beyond the physical limitations.
Like the fictional character of Neo in The Matrix (Keanu Reeves), who spends just seconds learning different languages and martial arts skills, Starner and Seim hope to bring this quick-learning process to the real world with their special gloves.
But these gloves for playing piano don’t require you to actively study or work at it. Instead, while you go about your day, electronic impulses vibrate the same pattern that corresponds to a piano melody, reinforcing a learning process that happens entirely in the background. When the glove comes off an hour later, people who have never played the piano can confidently peck out a simple melody without even thinking.
Even when researchers challenged test subjects with simultaneous SAT or GRE questions, or upped the ante with more complicated two-handed pieces (like Mozart’s Turkish March), the information seemed embedded in their participants’ minds, and could be performed on demand.
That led Seim to think about other applications of this magical technology beyond gloves for playing piano.
Upon discovering that only 10% of blind people can read braille—a literary crisis according to the National Federation of the Blind—Starner and Seim shifted their attention to the difficulties in learning braille, which typically takes about four months.
With a two-glove system that taught participants how to type braille, they were able to learn 94% of the braille alphabet in just four hours.
But all their tests thus far were limited to those with full motor control of their hands. The next step, so it seemed, was to determine whether passive, quick learning could help patients with spinal cord injuries increase their existing mobility and function.
It did. And after an eight-week teaching period with the gloves, the researchers noticed a marked improvement in sensation and ability across several patients.
When Seim brought the gloves to stroke victim Alex, who would wear them for about three hours a day during normal, routine activities, the researchers started to notice something amazing: function that had long been thought of as lost started to return, as did increased feeling.
But Seim and Starner aren’t done yet. They’re still looking for ways to solve problems with technology, and whether it’s with gloves that help you play piano, learn braille, or help spinal cord and stroke victims increase their self-reliance and bodily ability, we can’t wait to see what they do next.
Watafiti wa Georgia Tech Thad Starner na Caitlyn Seim wametengeneza kinga za kucheza piano ambazo zinaweza kukupeleka kwenye mwendo wa kasi kwa saa moja tu. Pia wamewafundisha vipofu kusoma maandishi ya Braille kwa muda wa saa nne, jambo ambalo kwa kawaida huchukua miezi minne. Vifaa hivyo vinafanya kazi kwa njia ya kujifunza kwa njia ya kugusa, na ni uvumbuzi mwingine mkubwa uliofanywa na watafiti wa Georgia Tech. Kimsingi, wao hutetemeka kwa njia zinazochochea mwendo sahihi katika mikono ya mtumiaji. Wakati maombi yamekuwa ya kuvutia hadi sasa, Thad na Caitlyn wanaamini sisi ni tu scratching uso. Hivi karibuni, wanachunguza jinsi glavu hizo zinavyoweza kutumiwa kurudisha mwendo kwa watu ambao wamepatwa na majeraha ya ubongo. Na matokeo ni yenye kuahidi sana. Kama mmoja wa watu wa kwanza kutumia kompyuta inayoweza kuvaliwa, Thad Starner amekuwa painia katika teknolojia inayoweza kuvaliwa kwa miongo mingi. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka huu, Google ilifanya kazi ya ""Project Glass"" na ilifanya kazi ya ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia"" na ""Pia""." Siri ni mitetemeko maalumu ambayo husaidia ubongo kunyonya maarifa hata kama mteja haangalii. Starner na timu yake wameweza kuwafundisha watu kucheza piano kwa muda usiozidi saa moja na kusoma maandishi ya Braille kwa saa chache tu. Teknolojia hii ni maendeleo mengine yanayoendeleza uwezo wa wanadamu wa muziki. Lakini zaidi ya manufaa ya kuchukua ujuzi wa ziada au burudani, watafiti wanauliza maswali makubwa: Je, teknolojia hiyo hiyo inayokusaidia kujifunza kwa njia ya passively pia inaweza kukusaidia kupona kutoka kwa jeraha la ubongo? Kwa wale ambao wamepoteza nguvu za mwendo na hisia katika mkono wao wa kulia baada ya kiharusi, kujitegemea huanza na mikono. Vitu vyote tunavyoviona kuwa vya kawaida, kama vile kuoga, kuvaa, na kula, huhitaji harakati maalumu sana - harakati ambazo huonekana tu zinapokuwa ngumu au haiwezekani kufanya. Kuongeza kwenye hilo, kukata tamaa kwa sababu ya kutegemea (wafanya kazi wa huduma za afya, marafiki, familia, na hata wageni), na yote hayo yanaweza kuathiri sana hali ya akili na ya kisaikolojia zaidi ya uwezo wa kimwili. Kama vile Neo katika Matrix (Keanu Reeves), ambaye hutumia sekunde chache tu kujifunza lugha tofauti na ustadi wa sanaa za kupigana, Starner na Seim wanatarajia kuleta mchakato huu wa kujifunza haraka ulimwenguni halisi na kinga zao maalum. Lakini glavu hizi za kucheza piano hazihitaji wewe kujifunza au kufanya kazi kwa bidii. Badala yake, unapoendelea na maisha yako ya kila siku, msukumo wa elektroniki unazunguka kwa mtindo uleule unaolingana na wimbo wa piano, ukiongeza mchakato wa kujifunza unaotokea nyuma kabisa. Wakati kinga inapoondolewa saa moja baadaye, watu ambao hawajawahi kucheza piano wanaweza kwa uhakika kuchagua wimbo rahisi bila hata kufikiri. Hata wakati watafiti walipowashambulia watu wa mtihani na maswali ya SAT au GRE ya wakati mmoja, au walipoongeza kiwango cha juu na vipande vya mikono miwili ngumu zaidi (kama Machi ya Kituruki ya Mozart), habari hiyo ilionekana imewekwa katika akili za washiriki wao, na inaweza kutekelezwa kwa mahitaji. Hiyo ilimwongoza Seim kufikiria matumizi mengine ya teknolojia hii ya kichawi zaidi ya glavu za kucheza piano. Baada ya kugundua kwamba ni asilimia 10 tu ya vipofu wanaosoma Braille, Starner na Seim walianza kuzingatia matatizo ya kujifunza Braille, ambayo kwa kawaida huchukua miezi minne. Kwa kutumia kifaa cha kutumia glavu mbili, washiriki waliweza kujifunza kuandika kwa kutumia herufi za Braille kwa muda wa saa nne tu. Lakini majaribio yao yote hadi sasa yalikuwa yameelekezwa tu kwa wale walio na udhibiti kamili wa mikono yao. Hatua ya pili ilikuwa kuamua kama kujifunza kwa haraka na kwa njia isiyo ya moja kwa moja kunaweza kuwasaidia wagonjwa wenye majeraha ya uti wa mgongo kuongeza mwendo na utendaji wao. Ndivyo ilivyokuwa. Baada ya wiki nane za mafunzo, watafiti waliona uboreshaji mkubwa katika hisia na uwezo wa wagonjwa kadhaa. Alipomletea Alex, ambaye alikuwa amevaa glavu hizo kwa muda wa saa tatu kwa siku, watafiti walianza kuona jambo la kushangaza: kazi ambayo kwa muda mrefu ilionwa kuwa imepotea ilianza kurudi, pamoja na hisia zilizoongezeka. Lakini Seim na Starner hawajafanya bado. """Wanaendelea kutafuta njia za kutatua matatizo ya teknolojia, na ikiwa ni kwa kutumia kinga ambazo zinakusaidia kucheza piano, kujifunza Braille, au kusaidia mhimili wa uti wa mgongo na waathirika wa kiharusi kuongeza kujitegemea na uwezo wa mwili, hatuwezi kusubiri kuona nini wanafanya baadaye."