Jason Winters' Pico-Projects

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Essential Tremor Suppression via Viscous Damping

This is a prototype of an essential tremor suppression device. I built it for a biomedical engineering design contest (which I won). Essential tremor is a neurological disease that causes uncontrollable shaking of the hands and arms. A surgical treatment does exist, but it involves implanting an electrode into the thalamus of the brain. Needless to say, not a surgery for everyone. For some, tremor is only temporary and they are not good candidates for the $25,000 operation.
This particular device uses dashpots to dampen out the high frequency tremor motion
(4 to 8 Hz) and allow the slower intended movements. Obviously this isn't a complete solution since it only addresses tremor at the wrist. Check out the link to the presentation slides for more information.

2 Comments:

  • Glad you won. I think the deck was stacked a little toward your side though. This is funny. Most of your opponents don't have a clue.

    By Anonymous butch, at 10:45 PM  

  • Wow! I thought the new and improved fishcam was impressive....but this is incredible! You ARE "the sharpest tack in the toolbox"!

    By Anonymous Veronica, at 11:25 PM  

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