3  Technology takes health care into the 21st century

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Researchers at CSAIL, led by CSAIL principal investigator Russ Tedrake will program their new “Valkyrie” robot to autonomously perform challenging tasks that would allow it to replace or help astronauts on a mission, according to a press release.

“Our work is about vetting the robot and seeing what it is capable of,” said Tedrake, whose team received a two-year research grant from NASA for the project. “If we can integrate the autonomy work with our planning and control algorithms, it could result in an unprecedented level of autonomous capabilities for a humanoid robot.”

The robot is fully electric, with four body cameras and more than 200 individual sensors, including 38 on each hand.

FBI decides to keep iPhone hack a secret
After much debate, the FBI has decided to hold onto the method it used to hack one of the San Bernardino shooters’ iPhone, instead of submitting it to a government review that would determine whether or not the FBI should share it with Apple, according to a report by Bloomberg.

According to Amy Hess, the agency’s executive assistant director for science and technology, the agency does not have enough technical information about a vulnerability that would “permit any meaningful review” by the Obama administration, she said in a statement.

The agency had bought a hacking tool from an unidentified entity and then used it to access data on the encrypted iPhone of a terrorist involved in the San Bernardino shootings, reported Bloomberg. The bureau then dropped the legal case against Apple and decided to use the tool instead of trying to gain Apple’s help in unlocking the iPhone.

Vue.js 2.0 announced
Vue.js is a library for developers to build Web interfaces, and while it is similar to a framework, its creators said it’s more like a set of optional tools that work well together. Yesterday, Vue.js 2.0 was released, bringing along new improvements and features.

Version 2.0 is faster, since the rendering layer is now based on a lightweight virtual-DOM implementation that improves the initial rendering speed and memory consumption, according to a blog post by team member Evan You.

The virtual-DOM is combined with Vue’s reactivity system, so it provides “optimized re-rendering out of the box,” he said. Also, Vue 2.0 applies advanced optimizations during the template-to-virtual-DOM compilation phase.

For developers who prefer to write interfaces in templates, but also like the flexibility of JSX/hyperscript, Vue 2.0 allows them to use the familiar template syntax or drop down to the virtual-DOM layer whenever a developer feels constrained, according to You.

The FTC is investigating Android
The FTC is reportedly expanding its investigation into Android over fears that Google is exploiting its current position in the smartphone market, according to the Verge.

The FTC has been meeting with companies that are expressing their concern with Android, and they will discuss how the market share of Android is being used (or misused) against others, reported the Verge.

Also, the FTC is reportedly looking into similar complaints like whether or not Google is disadvantaging non-Google services on the operating system. This investigation may never lead to legal action against Google, reported the Verge.

Apple open-sources CareKit
Apple has open-sourced CareKit, a framework for developing apps that let users understand and manage medical conditions.

This framework allows developers to build apps that manage users’ medical conditions so they do not have to rely only on doctor visits. With these apps, users would be able to regularly track symptoms and medications, and share information with a care team.

Currently, developers are already using CareKit. Soon, apps that incorporate CareKit modules like Care Card or Insight Dashboard will also be available to users.

CareKit can help manage chronic conditions, diabetes, and help user’s reveal what treatments will work. Also, CareKit has the option of controlling what research studies a user can join, and how they can control the information provided to specific apps.

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Excedrin, a brand of headache pain relievers, has created what it calls the world’s first migraine simulator. It uses AR to replicate certain migraine symptoms, such as sensitivity to light and sound, disorientation, and aura (a visual disturbance that sometimes creates spots or jagged edges), said the company in a release.

(Related: An emulator is ready for HoloLens)

Migraines affect 36 million people in the United States, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. But not every sufferer of migraines experiences the same kind of migraine.

“Even with the number of sufferers out there, migraines are still widely misunderstood—largely because those who don’t experience the condition can’t fully understand it,” Excedrin wrote on its website. “That’s why [we] created the world’s first migraine simulator… This technological innovation makes it possible for non-sufferers to see what a migraine is really like.”

With AR technology, people with migraines elected a person close to them to show them what it would be like to experience a day with a migraine. Some of the individuals in a video on the project’s website had to take off the AR headset because experiencing the aura or sensitivity to light was too much to handle.

A mother in the video hugged her daughter and said, “I’m so sorry you have to go through this.”

This technology sheds light on the condition, but for some migraine sufferers, like Sarah Emerson (a contributor to media website Motherboard), are upset that the company invested money in an expensive technology and not better medication.

She wrote that while augmented reality did mimic the physical and emotional pain of a migraine, it doesn’t really give the actual pain and suffering of a true migraine.

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Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, and 7 to 10 million suffer from it globally, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. This collaboration will allow the companies to develop remote monitoring solutions that will rely on a system of sensors, mobile devices, and machine learning to provide real-time disease symptom information to clinicians and researchers, according to an IBM announcement. Among the goals, the announcement said, is to better understand how patients respond to medicine so doctors can make effective treatment decisions and researchers can better design clinical trials.

(Related: Microsoft and Samsung are focusing more on IoT)

The announcement noted that the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in particular requires constant adjustment to medications, depending on how the disease is progressing in a patient and how well the patient is responding to the medication.

This new collaborative approach is non-invasive to the patient. IBM and Pfizer will seek to create a holistic view of a patient’s wellbeing by accurately measuring a variety of health indicators like cognition, sleep patterns, and daily activities like grooming or dressing. By applying advanced analytics and machine learning to sensor data, the goal is to transform how neurological diseases are diagnosed and treated, according to the announcement.

“With the proliferation of digital health information, one area that remains elusive is the collection of real-time physiological data to support disease management,” said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director of IBM Research. “We are testing ways to create a system that passively collects data with little to no burden on the patient, and to provide doctors and researchers with objective, real-time insights that we believe could fundamentally change the way patients are monitored and treated.”

According to the announcement, the companies expect that the system will quickly move into its initial clinical testing phase. They will create an external advisory board of patient and advocacy groups, clinicians, and neuroscientists so that they can be guided on how to use the technology and manage the data.

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