Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 21, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba A16 science Winnipeg free press Friday december 21, 2007 baby gets behind the wheel in mobility study researchers want to help disabled kids move better by Randall Chase n Newark Del. ? with a six month old at the controls researchers at the University of Delaware Are encouraging underage driving. Their ultimate goal is to help immobile disabled children move and explore. The researchers Are using robotics in an Odd contraption that a sort of a Cross Between a bumper car and a robot. In a recent test Aniya Harris a normally developing six month old scooted across the floor in Delight by pushing a Joystick on the Little vehicle. She a too Young to steer it. I think she thinks Joystick Means ill take that right now said Cole Galloway a physical ther apy professor who Heads the infant motor behaviour lab. He and the other researchers believe the robot dubbed ud1, holds the Promise of opening up new horizons for disabled infants especially those with orthopaedic problems or muscular dystrophy. Wheeled robots could enable them to move and explore the world around them which studies Sug Gest is critical to their development. Researchers in the . Have been working on powered mobility for toddlers. However Galloway said conventional Wisdom has held that because of safety issues children Arent considered ready for that until age four or five the earliest age doctors might recommend powered mobility is age three. That Means too Many children Are at risk of los ing out on the important Early link Between Mobil Ity and their Overall development he said. As soon As you re reaching As soon As you re walk ing your cognition explodes Galloway explained. Sunil Agrawal a professor of mechanical Engi Neering at the University has been working for years on wheeled robots with infrared and sonar sensors that can avoid obstacles. A prototype based on those models is being used in studies involving about a dozen typically developing infants and a smaller number who have special needs. Using a computer and wireless technology researchers can measure the frequency and Dura Tion of Joystick use by a child the location Speed and distance travelled by the vehicle and the amount of time spent during a recent visit Aniya sat in ud1?s seat and tugged on the Joystick As her aunt Daina Mont Gomery beckoned from a metre or so away. The girl whirred across the floor to her aunt. While Aniya has no disabilities her aunt believes the mobility Experiment has helped her move rapidly from an Early stage crawl to being Able to climb stairs and pull herself up. Galloway and Agrawal said their research is still Early and parents should to expect to see robotic vehicles on the Market soon. ? the Canadian press the associated press Good Chance big asteroid will slam red planet by John Johnson or. An asteroid similar to the one that flattened forests in Siberia in 1908 could plow into Mars sometime in the next few weeks scientists say. Researchers attached to Nasa a near Earth objects program have been track ing the asteroid for Days. The scientists based at the Jet propulsion Laboratory in la Canada Flintridge calif., put the chances that it will hit the red planet at about 1 in 300. That a bet Ter Odds than any known asteroid has Ever had of hitting Earth except for the siberian strike the scientists said. The unnamed asteroid is about 48 metres across which puts it in the Range of the famous siberian Rock. The largest Impact event in recent history that explosion felled 80 million Trees Over an area of 2,150 Square Kilometres. Scientists say its unclear what the effects of such an Impact on Mars would be. The Martian atmosphere is so thin that an asteroid would Likely plummet All the Way to the surface instead of breaking up above ground As happened in the siberian event. Once it hit it would probably create a Large Crater and Send plumes of dust High into the atmosphere scientists said. Depending on where it hit the plume could be visible through telescopes. Mars Bright Christmas eve Washington ? Mars will be unusually Bright this Christmas eve and the Moon will be shining full ? a develop ment that might make Santa Claus rethink his need for Rudolph a red nose. Miami space transit planetarium director Jack Horkheimer said the red planet will Shine brighter because it will be directly opposite the Sun reflecting the most Light and fairly close to Earth Only 89.3 million Kilometres away. The full Moon will appear nearby rising about an hour later said Horkheimer Host of the Public television show Star Gazer. Mars will outshine the brightest Star and wont be As noticeable in the sky for nine More years Horkheimer said. The Hubble space Telescope took a picture of Mars which came closest to Earth on dec. 18, but it will be brighter on Christ Mas eve because of its position opposite the Sun. It will be a Brilliant red Light Horkheimer said. It is so Bright it knocks your socks ? from the news services ;