20 ms·

A prototype watch, raising hope for Parkinson’s

278 points by wglb 9y ago

erpellan 9y ago
Woah. Nice one, Microsoft. That's amazing.
c-slice 9y ago
That's incredible. The side by side comparison was so stark. I wonder what the physiology behind this is.
0xFFC 9y ago
I don't know. Is this normal to cry when you see something like this. Or I have to go to psychiatrist especially considering I have symptoms of BPD.
- spiralx 9y ago
  > I don't know. Is this normal to cry when you see something like this. I did :)
- rblatz 9y ago
  It's normal to cry when viewing something like this, but if you do suspect you may have mental health issues please please go to a doctor to have it checked out. You could be suffering for no good reason. In fact you may not realize the extent you are suffering until you start treatment and realize that you didn't have to feel that way.
- nom 9y ago
  It's called empathy.
  - wiz21c 9y ago
    It's called "being manipulated". OK, I'm a bit cynical here, but calling this "empathy" alone sounds a bit simple to me...
FlyingLawnmower 9y ago
Can anyone with a medical background chime in with some simple theory about why pulsed vibrations are so effective? This is incredibly exciting work.
- cperciva 9y ago
  why pulsed vibrations are so effective Vibrating shoes have been shown to be useful for helping elderly populations avoid falls; their diminished sensory acuity makes it hard for them to feel the differential pressure which indicates that they are starting to fall, but adding noise results in the sensory threshold being crossed. I'd presume that the muscle overstimulation which causes characteristic twitching/jerking is being suppressed by improved sensation of pressure.
  - noir_lord 9y ago
    Interesting, I have syringomyelia (cavity in the spine that presses on the spinal cord), I'm lucky in that on the scale of "I'm fucked" to "I'm asymptomatic" I'm far closer to the latter but one of the side effects is decreased nerve acuity, worse some days than others.
- cpncrunch 9y ago
  Well, we don't actually know if the device itself is even effective. The placebo effect has a very large effect in Parkinson's treatments due to it being caused by low dopamine (and dopamine is released when you are excited about something).
spiralx 9y ago
The BBC documentary "The Big Life Fix" is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjdHzlT_jI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjdHzlT_jI It's worth watching, it's very emotional watching her try and write with the watch on for the first time.
jroseattle 9y ago
Really fantastic story. Reminds of those times when engineers have a really profound effect on the lives of certain people -- like development of the cochlear implants that help the deaf hear. The next thing I expect along these lines is 3-D printing of human organs.
elorant 9y ago
This is why we need scientists. To make people's lives better.
erlehmann_ 9y ago
So is this what a PR submarine [1] looks like? I remembered that I had read such a story before and found that Emma could also write again in March 2017 [2], December 2016 [3], November 2016 [4] and probably other months between now and then. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html [2] https://theassistiveblog.areavoices.com/2017/03/30/emma-a-wearable-invention-that-could-change-the-life-of-someone-with-tremors/ https://theassistiveblog.areavoices.com/2017/03/30/emma-a-we... [3] https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researcher-creates-wearable-smooths-handwriting-parkinsons-disease-video/ https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researcher-creates-wearabl... [4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3979182/Engineer-creates-device-help-Parkinson-s-sufferer.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3979182/Engineer-c...
- wglb 9y ago
  In what way is this submarining?
- elorant 9y ago
  How can this be a PR piece? For starters, there isn't even a product. And most important, this is Microsoft, not some up and coming start-up that's craving for exposure. Microsoft is a behemoth when it comes to ad spending. If they had a product to market they wouldn't need some native advertising article, they'd go in guns blazing.
  - cperciva 9y ago
    Microsoft is actively rebranding itself from "evil megacorporation" to "innovative doer of good".
    - partycoder 9y ago
      Like "Microsoft <3 Linux" and "Microsoft <3 Open Source". Except that Microsoft used to collect 2 billion dollars in patents from Linux based product vendors. They totally "<3" open source.
pscsbs 9y ago
This reminds me of Google's Liftware, which does something similar but for cutlery. https://www.liftware.com/ https://www.liftware.com/
- hatsunearu 9y ago
  It's not. This isn't active stabilization, it just vibrates the wrist and somehow they claim this causes the tremors to stop. Very strange.
- rtkwe 9y ago
  That's been mentioned as one of her inspirations in a couple places, even though they're two very different mechanisms. This bracelet seems to actually interrupt the tremor somehow while the spoon just stabilized itself like an active camera gimbal.
erlehmann_ 9y ago
> As part of her work, Zhang researched the root cause of tremors. She spent six months, off and on, building prototypes. She sometimes worked in her London home, soldering wires to PC boards and tinkering with coin cell motors to create vibrations. She tested early versions with four other people with Parkinson’s, producing promising results for three, spurring the idea forward, she says. This paragraph reads like the solution is not as simple as strapping a vibrator to a wristband. So where are those results documented? Does anyone have an idea where the source code and schematics are for the singular Emma device prototype? Edit: I have not been able to find source code yet. A reddit thread about the device [1] from December 2016 links to a screenshot [2] of a BBC documentary from which one can infer that Zhang used six motors for the Emma device and timed them in a specific way. Edit 2: I noticed that my other HN comment [3] asking if this article is a PR submarine was first upvoted until it was shown at the top of the thread. It was then downvoted until it moved to the bottom of the thread. If a HN mod is reading this: Does that voting pattern seem normal? Edit 3: Now this comment is also receiving downvotes? Edit 4: The BBC has a GitHub repository containing other code related to the documentary. There has been an issue opened in January 2017 [4] from a person who wants to help his father who has Parkinson's. No source code seems to have been released since then. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Parkinsons/comments/5hh2fx/emmas_watch_a_few_engineering_thoughts/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Parkinsons/comments/5hh2fx/emmas_wa... [2] http://i.imgur.com/0q0QHsj.png http://i.imgur.com/0q0QHsj.png [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14388178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14388178 [4] https://github.com/bbc/MiD/issues/3 https://github.com/bbc/MiD/issues/3
- jshevek 9y ago
  This placement/voting pattern is not abnormal, IME - particularly as different child comments are left.
- obstinate 9y ago
  Yeah, I will say that I downvoted you. Your expectations (source code, that the results would be documented to your satisfaction after a trial of size N=1) seem unreasonable to me, to the extent that I personally think it is downvote worthy. I don't think, "where's the source code," contributes to the site, especially in situations where one would not reasonably expect to have access to it. ---- I have definitely seen the pattern where something I say initially gets downvoted, or upvoted, then the reverse happens later. It seems at a minimum that there might be a difference between the populations of people who read a story soon after it's posted and long after it's posted. It wouldn't surprise me if different sorts of comments appeal to these different groups, and that's ignoring the content of replies. Personally I would suggest not worrying about it too much, and doing your best to make comments that seem good to you. For a long time, I actually had a userscript that eliminated the fading style that gets applied to comments, and also hid karma and points. In some ways, that makes using the site a little less stressful, because you can worry a bit less about what others think. Edit: this comment is a good example of one that initially received several upvotes, but is now negative. ;)
floydtom2 9y ago
Control devices remotely hack + Burner Numbers hack + Verified Paypal Accounts hack + Any social media account hack + Android & iPhone Hack + server crashed hack + Text message interception hack + Twitters hack + Skype hack + Credit cards hacker + We can drop money into bank accounts. + credit score hack + blank credit card sale + Hack and use Credit Card to shop online + Monitor any phone and email address + Tap into anybody's call and monitor their conversation CONTACT:ftom9856 via kik Or email blackspothack@gmail. com
spike021 9y ago
I have "Essential Tremors", which can be very frustrating. I can write, but there have been times, especially in school, where having tremors made my writing quite a bit messier than if I didn't have them. Something like this could be really interesting in the future, not just for people who have Parkinson's but also other causes of tremors.
8note 9y ago
what about just adding a heavy watch? that would at least cut down the frequency of the tremors, which could help the brain get its act together
- jedimastert 9y ago
  It's not just heavy, it vibrates. It's actively trying to interrupt the tremors, as opposed to just dampening.
nom 9y ago
Wait, so does it just work by adding noise to the sensory input with simple vibration motors? Or does it actively counteract the tremors using an accelerometer?
Overtonwindow 9y ago
Absolutely astounding.
khazhoux 9y ago
Looks like nice work. I think. I couldn't find the details and didn't want to spend the full 15 minutes reading. This style of writing is very frustrating. 1. Introduction. We set up for something dramatic. In this case, a Parkinson's sufferer is about to see her life changed. In another recent story, a maternity nurse is about to birth her first child, and we were teased she would die after giving birth. Now we're at the moment of truth. All we have to do is... 2. CUT TO BACKSTORY. When X and Y first met in 1997, they were first drawn to each other by a shared love of whatever. Eventually, their travels led them to find out... 3. DEEP BACKSTORY. When X was 9 years old, she found a thing that immediately interested her. She kept at it because... 4. FAMILY BACKSTORY. Her grandfather fought in WWII/Korea/Vietnam for the US/British/Japanese/Australian army, and he tinkered on the side in whatever endeavor X would go on to work in... 5. MAIN TOPIC. And we get a paragraph or two of what we originally were interested in reading about, but not before... 6. CUT TO ORIGINAL BACKSTORY. Flesh it out a bit more. Finish it out. College, grad school, first job, moved across the country, landed current job. And now, finally... 7. NOT SO FAST. Let's finish out the grandfather's story, and his reaction when he learned what X was working on. Ok, now... 8. BACK TO THE ORIGINAL STORY ITSELF. And we get the five last paragraphs, which could just be joined with the first 3 paragraphs to tell the entire story. But then we woudn't hit our word count. I just wanted to learn how this bracelet works. With that other article, I just wanted to know how the nurse died. Do I need to be teased for 27 paragraphs?
- wavefunction 9y ago
  Couldn't you just search for "Microsoft"+"watch"+"Parkinson's" and spend, let's say, two minutes selecting a "just the facts" article? You probably spent those two minutes writing your post.
  - khazhoux 9y ago
    I spent about 10 minutes writing my post and it was very cathartic. The article is teasing the reader. It could have easily explained the basics of the device in one or two sentences at the top. The two main questions the reader has are "Does this work?" and "How does this work?" The writer is just being cute by not getting those answers out of the way.
sanj 9y ago
Why wasn't this flagged as a dupe? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14316703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14316703 I would've expected the hash cruft to be ignored.
- wglb 9y ago
  That's my error. I usually remove said cruft before submitting but neglected to do this time.
  - sanj 9y ago
    Sorry, I was asking more why HN didn't do it automatically.
    - grzm 9y ago
      I agree, it's frustrating. I think the primary reason is that a general algorithm for doing so might be difficult to come up with. Some hosts, such as Medium, use unique identifiers for each page view which are apparently mapped on the server side. If that identifier is removed, Medium returns a 404.
    - wglb 9y ago
      I chatted with mods and it is tricky to do with full generality.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
oneplane 9y ago
Sounds more like an advertisement for Microsoft and Windows while it actually has nothing to do with it. It's almost as if a good idea went through a PR processor that tries to turn it into a 'nice story' while also replacing normal words with branded words. It's annoying as hell to read, and instead of remembering the good idea behind this piece of personal electronics, it only leaves me with the bad taste of corporate marketing.
dannylandau 9y ago
We are working on handwriting analysis for Parkinson's Disease if anyone is interested -- http://ineuroskill.com/ http://ineuroskill.com/ Applications are for both monitoring medication intake and as a precursor for early diagnosis.
sjs382 9y ago
Where can I buy or otherwise get (make, 3d print, etc) one?
zensavona 9y ago
We actually have a very effective, natural fix for this kind of Parkinson's symptom. Marijuana. Look how amazingly (immediately) effective it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4s-6fnLSzE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4s-6fnLSzE
averagewall 9y ago
It's great to see someone helping the symptoms and improving quality of life. It wasn't until a family member got Parkinson's that I realized it's not just shaking hands, it's a terminal illness with progressive neurodegeneration. Usually with dementia happening alongside the physical symptoms. It's about as scary as Alzheimer's.
- hashhar 9y ago
  There is a trio of neuro-degenerative diseases which are horrible and have no known cure or even treatment to make the symptoms manageable. The worst part is that the person who gets them suffers as much, if not more, than the people they know and they get worse over time. Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
tdehollain 9y ago
For those looking for a decent TL;DR: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/05/10/microsoft-shows-off-watch-quiets-parkinsons-tremors/101517718/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/05/10/m... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/11/microsoft-built-watch-calmed-womans-parkinsons-tremors/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/11/microsoft-b...
snvzz 9y ago
This article does somehow make a painful read. I just can't. It'd be nice if someone who could handle it wrote a TL;DR for us.
caycep 9y ago
Hm. Parkinson's patients sometimes have tremors, but all tremors are not Parkinson's. The physiological explanation of Parkinson's "firing off wrong signals to muscles" is not correct. Parkinson's disease is defined primarily by bradykinesia and limb rigidity - the difficulty of the motor planning part of the brain processing motor commands to the motor cortex. Much of the disability in Parkinson's disease comes from a patient's brain not being able to come up with motor commands fast enough, resulting in wooden, statue-like movement and gait instability (i.e. coming up with motor commands fast enough to maintain upright balance). Of interest - while tremors (i.e. essential tremors, action tremors, rubral tremors) can limit function, the interesting part of Parkinsonian tremors are that the vast majority of them are "resting tremors," i.e. they go away with action and thus are not the limiting factor of writing. Most Parkinson's patients complain, rather, of the bradykinesia (motor command issues) causing micrographia, or excessively small and unreadable handwriting. Anyway, I am not sure what diagnosis Emma actually has - it may be what is known as a "tremor predominant" Parkinson's disease (which overlaps a bit with essential tremor, another neurological movement disorder). It may very well be essential tremor. Or it may be a dystonic tremor which responds, bizarrely, to weird sensory cues, i.e. "gestes antagonistes". If the watch with its vibrating counterweights works for her, great. For most of our Parkinson's patients, it doesn't solve their main issue which is the inability to move or walk, or at least do so well. Not to mention the cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease which is a whole other can of worms. Of note: Parkinsonian and essential tremors respond extremely well to implantable deep brain stimulators...that is a whole other topic as well.
- bsg75 9y ago
  Does the article even mention if the watch has any active vibration adjustment? I may have missed it, but I'm wondering if this is a specific vibration pattern, or if any similar vibrations would help this particular person.
  - caycep 9y ago
    I think it was buried deep in there somehow, but I didn't really see a great explanation of what exactly they were doing. TBH there seems to be a ton of "wearables" ideas flooding the poster sessions of the last few Movement Disorders Congresses, but honestly, these all either a) focus on tremor tracking to the exclusion of everything else and thus totally misses the main point of Parkinson's, or b) pour a ton of money onto custom hardware and electronics, yet can't really accomplish more than what you get with a fitbit or Apple Watch,
member221 9y ago
I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! (Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net) I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.
member221 9y ago
I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! (Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net) I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.
member221 9y ago
I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.
member221 9y ago
I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.

278 points by wglb 9y ago

erpellan 9y ago

Woah. Nice one, Microsoft. That's amazing.

c-slice 9y ago

That's incredible. The side by side comparison was so stark. I wonder what the physiology behind this is.

0xFFC 9y ago

I don't know. Is this normal to cry when you see something like this. Or I have to go to psychiatrist especially considering I have symptoms of BPD.

spiralx 9y ago
> I don't know. Is this normal to cry when you see something like this. I did :)
rblatz 9y ago
It's normal to cry when viewing something like this, but if you do suspect you may have mental health issues please please go to a doctor to have it checked out. You could be suffering for no good reason. In fact you may not realize the extent you are suffering until you start treatment and realize that you didn't have to feel that way.
nom 9y ago
It's called empathy.
- wiz21c 9y ago
  It's called "being manipulated". OK, I'm a bit cynical here, but calling this "empathy" alone sounds a bit simple to me...

FlyingLawnmower 9y ago

Can anyone with a medical background chime in with some simple theory about why pulsed vibrations are so effective? This is incredibly exciting work.

cperciva 9y ago
why pulsed vibrations are so effective Vibrating shoes have been shown to be useful for helping elderly populations avoid falls; their diminished sensory acuity makes it hard for them to feel the differential pressure which indicates that they are starting to fall, but adding noise results in the sensory threshold being crossed. I'd presume that the muscle overstimulation which causes characteristic twitching/jerking is being suppressed by improved sensation of pressure.
- noir_lord 9y ago
  Interesting, I have syringomyelia (cavity in the spine that presses on the spinal cord), I'm lucky in that on the scale of "I'm fucked" to "I'm asymptomatic" I'm far closer to the latter but one of the side effects is decreased nerve acuity, worse some days than others.
cpncrunch 9y ago
Well, we don't actually know if the device itself is even effective. The placebo effect has a very large effect in Parkinson's treatments due to it being caused by low dopamine (and dopamine is released when you are excited about something).

spiralx 9y ago

The BBC documentary "The Big Life Fix" is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjdHzlT_jI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjdHzlT_jI It's worth watching, it's very emotional watching her try and write with the watch on for the first time.

jroseattle 9y ago

Really fantastic story. Reminds of those times when engineers have a really profound effect on the lives of certain people -- like development of the cochlear implants that help the deaf hear. The next thing I expect along these lines is 3-D printing of human organs.

elorant 9y ago

This is why we need scientists. To make people's lives better.

erlehmann_ 9y ago

So is this what a PR submarine [1] looks like? I remembered that I had read such a story before and found that Emma could also write again in March 2017 [2], December 2016 [3], November 2016 [4] and probably other months between now and then. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html [2] https://theassistiveblog.areavoices.com/2017/03/30/emma-a-wearable-invention-that-could-change-the-life-of-someone-with-tremors/ https://theassistiveblog.areavoices.com/2017/03/30/emma-a-we... [3] https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researcher-creates-wearable-smooths-handwriting-parkinsons-disease-video/ https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researcher-creates-wearabl... [4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3979182/Engineer-creates-device-help-Parkinson-s-sufferer.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3979182/Engineer-c...

wglb 9y ago
In what way is this submarining?
elorant 9y ago
How can this be a PR piece? For starters, there isn't even a product. And most important, this is Microsoft, not some up and coming start-up that's craving for exposure. Microsoft is a behemoth when it comes to ad spending. If they had a product to market they wouldn't need some native advertising article, they'd go in guns blazing.
- cperciva 9y ago
  Microsoft is actively rebranding itself from "evil megacorporation" to "innovative doer of good".
  - partycoder 9y ago
    Like "Microsoft <3 Linux" and "Microsoft <3 Open Source". Except that Microsoft used to collect 2 billion dollars in patents from Linux based product vendors. They totally "<3" open source.

pscsbs 9y ago

This reminds me of Google's Liftware, which does something similar but for cutlery. https://www.liftware.com/ https://www.liftware.com/

hatsunearu 9y ago
It's not. This isn't active stabilization, it just vibrates the wrist and somehow they claim this causes the tremors to stop. Very strange.
rtkwe 9y ago
That's been mentioned as one of her inspirations in a couple places, even though they're two very different mechanisms. This bracelet seems to actually interrupt the tremor somehow while the spoon just stabilized itself like an active camera gimbal.

erlehmann_ 9y ago

> As part of her work, Zhang researched the root cause of tremors. She spent six months, off and on, building prototypes. She sometimes worked in her London home, soldering wires to PC boards and tinkering with coin cell motors to create vibrations. She tested early versions with four other people with Parkinson’s, producing promising results for three, spurring the idea forward, she says. This paragraph reads like the solution is not as simple as strapping a vibrator to a wristband. So where are those results documented? Does anyone have an idea where the source code and schematics are for the singular Emma device prototype? Edit: I have not been able to find source code yet. A reddit thread about the device [1] from December 2016 links to a screenshot [2] of a BBC documentary from which one can infer that Zhang used six motors for the Emma device and timed them in a specific way. Edit 2: I noticed that my other HN comment [3] asking if this article is a PR submarine was first upvoted until it was shown at the top of the thread. It was then downvoted until it moved to the bottom of the thread. If a HN mod is reading this: Does that voting pattern seem normal? Edit 3: Now this comment is also receiving downvotes? Edit 4: The BBC has a GitHub repository containing other code related to the documentary. There has been an issue opened in January 2017 [4] from a person who wants to help his father who has Parkinson's. No source code seems to have been released since then. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Parkinsons/comments/5hh2fx/emmas_watch_a_few_engineering_thoughts/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Parkinsons/comments/5hh2fx/emmas_wa... [2] http://i.imgur.com/0q0QHsj.png http://i.imgur.com/0q0QHsj.png [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14388178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14388178 [4] https://github.com/bbc/MiD/issues/3 https://github.com/bbc/MiD/issues/3

jshevek 9y ago
This placement/voting pattern is not abnormal, IME - particularly as different child comments are left.
obstinate 9y ago
Yeah, I will say that I downvoted you. Your expectations (source code, that the results would be documented to your satisfaction after a trial of size N=1) seem unreasonable to me, to the extent that I personally think it is downvote worthy. I don't think, "where's the source code," contributes to the site, especially in situations where one would not reasonably expect to have access to it. ---- I have definitely seen the pattern where something I say initially gets downvoted, or upvoted, then the reverse happens later. It seems at a minimum that there might be a difference between the populations of people who read a story soon after it's posted and long after it's posted. It wouldn't surprise me if different sorts of comments appeal to these different groups, and that's ignoring the content of replies. Personally I would suggest not worrying about it too much, and doing your best to make comments that seem good to you. For a long time, I actually had a userscript that eliminated the fading style that gets applied to comments, and also hid karma and points. In some ways, that makes using the site a little less stressful, because you can worry a bit less about what others think. Edit: this comment is a good example of one that initially received several upvotes, but is now negative. ;)

floydtom2 9y ago

Control devices remotely hack + Burner Numbers hack + Verified Paypal Accounts hack + Any social media account hack + Android & iPhone Hack + server crashed hack + Text message interception hack + Twitters hack + Skype hack + Credit cards hacker + We can drop money into bank accounts. + credit score hack + blank credit card sale + Hack and use Credit Card to shop online + Monitor any phone and email address + Tap into anybody's call and monitor their conversation CONTACT:ftom9856 via kik Or email blackspothack@gmail. com

spike021 9y ago

I have "Essential Tremors", which can be very frustrating. I can write, but there have been times, especially in school, where having tremors made my writing quite a bit messier than if I didn't have them. Something like this could be really interesting in the future, not just for people who have Parkinson's but also other causes of tremors.

8note 9y ago

what about just adding a heavy watch? that would at least cut down the frequency of the tremors, which could help the brain get its act together

jedimastert 9y ago
It's not just heavy, it vibrates. It's actively trying to interrupt the tremors, as opposed to just dampening.

nom 9y ago

Wait, so does it just work by adding noise to the sensory input with simple vibration motors? Or does it actively counteract the tremors using an accelerometer?

Overtonwindow 9y ago

Absolutely astounding.

khazhoux 9y ago

Looks like nice work. I think. I couldn't find the details and didn't want to spend the full 15 minutes reading. This style of writing is very frustrating. 1. Introduction. We set up for something dramatic. In this case, a Parkinson's sufferer is about to see her life changed. In another recent story, a maternity nurse is about to birth her first child, and we were teased she would die after giving birth. Now we're at the moment of truth. All we have to do is... 2. CUT TO BACKSTORY. When X and Y first met in 1997, they were first drawn to each other by a shared love of whatever. Eventually, their travels led them to find out... 3. DEEP BACKSTORY. When X was 9 years old, she found a thing that immediately interested her. She kept at it because... 4. FAMILY BACKSTORY. Her grandfather fought in WWII/Korea/Vietnam for the US/British/Japanese/Australian army, and he tinkered on the side in whatever endeavor X would go on to work in... 5. MAIN TOPIC. And we get a paragraph or two of what we originally were interested in reading about, but not before... 6. CUT TO ORIGINAL BACKSTORY. Flesh it out a bit more. Finish it out. College, grad school, first job, moved across the country, landed current job. And now, finally... 7. NOT SO FAST. Let's finish out the grandfather's story, and his reaction when he learned what X was working on. Ok, now... 8. BACK TO THE ORIGINAL STORY ITSELF. And we get the five last paragraphs, which could just be joined with the first 3 paragraphs to tell the entire story. But then we woudn't hit our word count. I just wanted to learn how this bracelet works. With that other article, I just wanted to know how the nurse died. Do I need to be teased for 27 paragraphs?

wavefunction 9y ago
Couldn't you just search for "Microsoft"+"watch"+"Parkinson's" and spend, let's say, two minutes selecting a "just the facts" article? You probably spent those two minutes writing your post.
- khazhoux 9y ago
  I spent about 10 minutes writing my post and it was very cathartic. The article is teasing the reader. It could have easily explained the basics of the device in one or two sentences at the top. The two main questions the reader has are "Does this work?" and "How does this work?" The writer is just being cute by not getting those answers out of the way.

sanj 9y ago

Why wasn't this flagged as a dupe? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14316703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14316703 I would've expected the hash cruft to be ignored.

wglb 9y ago
That's my error. I usually remove said cruft before submitting but neglected to do this time.
- sanj 9y ago
  Sorry, I was asking more why HN didn't do it automatically.
  - grzm 9y ago
    I agree, it's frustrating. I think the primary reason is that a general algorithm for doing so might be difficult to come up with. Some hosts, such as Medium, use unique identifiers for each page view which are apparently mapped on the server side. If that identifier is removed, Medium returns a 404.
  - wglb 9y ago
    I chatted with mods and it is tricky to do with full generality.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

oneplane 9y ago

Sounds more like an advertisement for Microsoft and Windows while it actually has nothing to do with it. It's almost as if a good idea went through a PR processor that tries to turn it into a 'nice story' while also replacing normal words with branded words. It's annoying as hell to read, and instead of remembering the good idea behind this piece of personal electronics, it only leaves me with the bad taste of corporate marketing.

dannylandau 9y ago

We are working on handwriting analysis for Parkinson's Disease if anyone is interested -- http://ineuroskill.com/ http://ineuroskill.com/ Applications are for both monitoring medication intake and as a precursor for early diagnosis.

sjs382 9y ago

Where can I buy or otherwise get (make, 3d print, etc) one?

zensavona 9y ago

We actually have a very effective, natural fix for this kind of Parkinson's symptom. Marijuana. Look how amazingly (immediately) effective it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4s-6fnLSzE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4s-6fnLSzE

averagewall 9y ago

It's great to see someone helping the symptoms and improving quality of life. It wasn't until a family member got Parkinson's that I realized it's not just shaking hands, it's a terminal illness with progressive neurodegeneration. Usually with dementia happening alongside the physical symptoms. It's about as scary as Alzheimer's.

hashhar 9y ago
There is a trio of neuro-degenerative diseases which are horrible and have no known cure or even treatment to make the symptoms manageable. The worst part is that the person who gets them suffers as much, if not more, than the people they know and they get worse over time. Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

tdehollain 9y ago

For those looking for a decent TL;DR: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/05/10/microsoft-shows-off-watch-quiets-parkinsons-tremors/101517718/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/05/10/m... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/11/microsoft-built-watch-calmed-womans-parkinsons-tremors/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/11/microsoft-b...

snvzz 9y ago

This article does somehow make a painful read. I just can't. It'd be nice if someone who could handle it wrote a TL;DR for us.

caycep 9y ago

Hm. Parkinson's patients sometimes have tremors, but all tremors are not Parkinson's. The physiological explanation of Parkinson's "firing off wrong signals to muscles" is not correct. Parkinson's disease is defined primarily by bradykinesia and limb rigidity - the difficulty of the motor planning part of the brain processing motor commands to the motor cortex. Much of the disability in Parkinson's disease comes from a patient's brain not being able to come up with motor commands fast enough, resulting in wooden, statue-like movement and gait instability (i.e. coming up with motor commands fast enough to maintain upright balance). Of interest - while tremors (i.e. essential tremors, action tremors, rubral tremors) can limit function, the interesting part of Parkinsonian tremors are that the vast majority of them are "resting tremors," i.e. they go away with action and thus are not the limiting factor of writing. Most Parkinson's patients complain, rather, of the bradykinesia (motor command issues) causing micrographia, or excessively small and unreadable handwriting. Anyway, I am not sure what diagnosis Emma actually has - it may be what is known as a "tremor predominant" Parkinson's disease (which overlaps a bit with essential tremor, another neurological movement disorder). It may very well be essential tremor. Or it may be a dystonic tremor which responds, bizarrely, to weird sensory cues, i.e. "gestes antagonistes". If the watch with its vibrating counterweights works for her, great. For most of our Parkinson's patients, it doesn't solve their main issue which is the inability to move or walk, or at least do so well. Not to mention the cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease which is a whole other can of worms. Of note: Parkinsonian and essential tremors respond extremely well to implantable deep brain stimulators...that is a whole other topic as well.

bsg75 9y ago
Does the article even mention if the watch has any active vibration adjustment? I may have missed it, but I'm wondering if this is a specific vibration pattern, or if any similar vibrations would help this particular person.
- caycep 9y ago
  I think it was buried deep in there somehow, but I didn't really see a great explanation of what exactly they were doing. TBH there seems to be a ton of "wearables" ideas flooding the poster sessions of the last few Movement Disorders Congresses, but honestly, these all either a) focus on tremor tracking to the exclusion of everything else and thus totally misses the main point of Parkinson's, or b) pour a ton of money onto custom hardware and electronics, yet can't really accomplish more than what you get with a fitbit or Apple Watch,

member221 9y ago

I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! (Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net) I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.

member221 9y ago

I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.

member221 9y ago

I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in my mid to late 40's. I had hand tremors for several years. Gradually became worse. I then noticed when I was tired the tremors were worse. I started falling for no apparent reason. I now have stiffness in my legs and need to walk with 2 canes or a walker. I am very slow getting around. I am now 52 years old. I am forgetful at times and have difficulty expressing myself. I have difficulty swallowing at times. I become tired easily, I also become quite dizzy when performing any athletic function (jogging). I was on Levodopa/Carbidopa, 100/25. nothing was really working to help my condition. Finally i started on parkinson's natural herbal formula i ordered from Health HERBAL CLINIC, i read alot of great reviews from other patients who used the parkinson's herbal treatment. My symptoms totally declined over a 4-5 weeks use of the Health herbal clinic Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. , its effects on parkinson's is amazing, all My symptoms gradually faded away, I have been active and hope to continue! Visit www. healthherbalclinic. net or email at Info@ healthherbalclinic. net I recommend this Parkinson's herbal formula for all Parkinson's Patients.