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Sometimes, the creative ideas we need for solving problems and
designing new things come from areas outside of our own realms
of expertise. But we have to be open to new ideas by paying attention
to what else is going on around us. It helps to have a wide
variety of inputs.
Take Dr. Grant Etnyre, for example. He is an M.D. and Staff
Physiatrist in the Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at
a VA hospital in North Hills, CA. He has expertise in medical
areas, but he also pays attention to other areas like engineering,
robotics, and various forms of entertainment.
“I am interested in developing a human: machine interface that
will augment therapy and fitness,” says Etnyre. “I have novel ways
of doing this. I know what I want to do can be done, I just need to
find the resources with which to do it.”
So when Dr. Etnyre wrote to us about his interest in the robotics
used in a movie that we featured on the cover of a previous issue
of Entertainment Engineering, we felt that there had to be technology
transfer story there.
Several months later, we received a press release from a company
called AnthroTronix., a research and development company.
AnthroTronix designs and develops robotic technology that is relevant
to and used in the entertainment. Entertainment Engineering
co-sponsors a robotics trade show called RoboNexus and
Anthrotronix got our names from the show’s press list.
The Anthrotronix press release indicated the company would
unveil its Mission Control™ and CosmoBot™ products designed
to enhance child development. Boom! There it was. The technology
used for entertainment is transferable to medical and rehabilitation
applications.
We shot a copy of the release over to Dr Etnyre. He wrote back
in less than 24 hours saying, “I looked over the press release and
found AnthroTronix to have a similar emphasis as I do. I think we
have a lot in common relative to our interests and goals. “
Technology transfer is possible and the creative process works
when the mind is open to new ideas, some of which may not seem
to be a clear connection at first. That why you’ll find companies
like Caterpillar and Xerox in the pages of this magazine. They may
not seem to have a connection to entertainment industries at first,
but when you read about them in the pages of this magazine, you
will see that they do.
Dr Etnyre wrote me another e-mail recently. He said he envisions
many applications stemming from his root technology, which
involves interfacing with human movement, some of which are in
the entertainment industry. Seems the technology transfer works
both ways.
Bruce
Wiebusch
Bruce@EntertainmentEngineering.com
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