The birth of the Pulsar Project Concept...
BIOMUSE (Box with chord plug in photo), created by Stanford researchers R.
Benjamin Knapp, and Hugh S. Lusted,
uses EMG (electromyograph) sensors to transduce muscular voltage
differentials into musical output. Using
BIOMUSE, one is able to create music by coordinating simple to complex
muscular movements. The designers of the
technology used leg and arm signals for inputing commands to the system.
Dave Warner, however, was able to simply attach
the sensors to a paralyzed child's face which was the only part of
her body she could actually move.
In March of 1991 Warner was given a single day to use the BIOMUSE for
capturing facial gestures to control a computer.
For testing, musical output was substituted by a simple graphic to
establish the interaction between patient and machine.
These photos are of Crystal Earwood, the first and youngest (18 months)
quadraplegic to ever control a computer with
physiological output from her eyes. To the
suprize of many, the experiments with
BIOMUSE were a total success. The media went wild!
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