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MIT's tech wizards showcase gizmos with a healing touch
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 21:33 IST |
2 Comments
New Delhi: It seems that technology is all set to replace doctors. Scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and from India exhibited a software which can read ones emotions and help him or her overcome stress, depression, anxiety. A small handheld device which can do a CT-scan, keep record of your heartbeat just at the click of a button was another gizmo at the recently held seminar in Delhi, as per a report in The Economic Times.
The seminar was organized by Technology Review, a 109-year-old blue chip magazine of MIT. Indian edition of the magazine was launched in the presence of renowned scientist and policy maker Prof M G K Menon.
At the two-day long seminar, innovators from India and MIT presented path-breaking research in the field of technology that will be used in the near future. "We have noted a recent trend where Indian technologists and innovators who built successful careers abroad are now returning to India to start new enterprises back at home," said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher, Technology Review.
Vinay Gidwaney, a research affiliate, MIT Media Lab, is working on a software called, Meta Therapy that can help people overcome depression, anxiety or stress said. "It has been found that patients undergoing painful procedures required less amount of drugs to ease the pain if a person was talking to him or her. Based on this we have developed a software in the MIT lab which first screens the patient by asking him or her a few questions about them and then plays an appropriate audio tape which helps them disassociate themselves from the pain, anxiety and stress, Gidwaney said."
Similarly, researchers have made a prototype of a small device which can perform a CT-scan of the hand. "We are in the nascent stages, but the idea is to develop a device which is smaller than a mobile phone and can keep a record of the changes happening in your body and can also store images of various scans performed on the body," said Ramesh Raskar, associate professor, MIT Media Lab.
The seminar saw a lot of Indian technologists present their innovative work in various fields. Among them was a group of experts who are working on a software, which can help intelligence agencies gather information from various quarters in an effective manner.
"This advance algorithm will help investigators integrate all the data and use it as per their convenience. Through this we can trace peculiar patterns in conversations, telephone calls and all communications between the terror groups and track location of terror cells," said Srikanth Sampara, CEO, Tuple Technologies.
Another group of students from Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS) presented a prototype for tamperproof fare-meter in autorickshaws.
