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Abstract=In 1800s England, a well meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends release Date=2020 Eleanor Catton Johnny Flynn Runtime=2Hour 4m.

“ It was incredibly traumatic but exciting at the same time. There was so much fear and emotion hanging in that moment. I wanted it to work so badly. ” Emma Lawton is 33, and one of the 2% of people with Parkinson s who have been diagnosed with the neurological condition before they are 40. She is sitting in Microsoft s office in London, describing the moment she first used the “ Emma Watch ” – a wrist-worn device that aims to significantly reduce the almost constant limb tremors associated with Parkinson s. Lawton, a creative director, was wearing the watch (top) when she put pen to paper for a recent BBC documentary called The Big Life Fix, which changed her life forever. “ I was petrified. What if it didn t work? So when it did work, I thought ‘ OK, that s amazing. I couldn t really get my head around it. And then when it carried on working …” At that moment Haiyan Zhang, who invented the watch as part of a research team, walks through the door and greets Lawton warmly before she has to sit for more photos. “ Haiyan is awesome, ” Lawton says when Microsoft Research s Innovation Director is out of earshot. “ She got me instantly. The watch has an interchangeable strap; that s so me, the fact that it can have different colours. She sussed that I wanted something that was cool, and that my boyfriend would be jealous of, because he s all about technology. It didn t look like it had come out of a Parkinson s magazine for an old person. She got all that. And she was incredibly human about the process. I just thought: ‘ Wow, this is someone who not only understands the technology behind things but also understands the humans behind things. ” “Other diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis, can be modified but Parkinsons isnt there yet. Drugs can treat the symptoms but they dont change the disease, ” says Sally Davenport, a Physiotherapist and Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London who is involved in neurophysiotherapy. “We are looking for how to improve the quality of life, because at the moment Parkinsons is incurable. Its about living with it. If you have a condition, you always hope that a treatment will come along, and you need to stay healthy for when it does. ” While the wait for a cure continues, Zhang has created what she hopes could be a “revolutionary” aid for reducing tremors. The Emma Watch uses vibrating motors – similar to those found in mobile phones – to distract the brain into focusing on something other than trying to control the patients limbs. Put simply, Zhang believes Lawtons brain is at war with itself – half is trying to move her hand, the other half is trying to stop it. The two signals battle and amplify each other, causing the tremors. The device stops that “feedback loop”. “Its all about listening to Emma describing her experience because thats one of the only ways you can understand whats happening with her physiologically, and then drawing insights from that, ” Haiyan explains. “She said she could observe her hand tremoring but no longer felt the tremor because the vibrations [from the device] were coming in place of the physical sensation of the tremor. “I think what happens with the device is … her brain no longer senses the hand tremoring and is no longer trying to do that loop of stopping the hand from tremoring. Since [the programme aired] I have spoken with neurology researchers on the subject and there is scientific basis for this line of thinking. ” Emma Lawton is one of the 2% of people with Parkinsons who have been diagnosed with the neurological condition before they are 40 The Emma Watch is just the latest example of Zhangs desire to help people and improve lives, the roots of which stretch back to childhood. She was born in China before migrating to Adelaide, Australia, with her parents at the age of eight. Despite her new world of “birthday presents, birthday parties, pass-the-parcel, afternoon suppers, knives and forks”, the switch was tough on Zhang. She was the only Asian child at her primary school and spoke very little English, which automatically made her an outsider, different, an “oddity”, as she puts it. Anti-Asian graffiti in her neighbourhood and people aggressively yelling at her from cars was common. Zhang retreated into herself and became shy and quiet. However, there was one person who was determined to help Zhang overcome her obstacles and thrive. The youngsters third grade teacher sat with her every afternoon, pointing to pictures and helping her sound out the words. “ Having that direct impact on someone s life ripples into bigger societal changes, ” Zhang recalls more than a quarter of a century later. Degrees in computer science, interactive multimedia and interactive design followed before she became a teaching assistant at Monash University in Melbourne. She then took a year-long job as a software engineer at Space-Time Research in the same city before moving to Canada to join the biomedical industry in 2000. Later, she accepted roles at the British Design Council and innovation firm IDEO, also consulting for Stanford University and the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Before the 39-year-old joined Microsoft in 2013, she was on the founding team for the innovation platform, where she also led its design team. The firm enabled people across the world to share ideas and solve challenges for social good, and has been embraced by companies and institutions such as British Airways, Deutsche Bank and Harvard Business School. [Haiyan] is someone who not only understands the technology behind things but also understands the humans behind things – Emma Lawton “We worked with Oxfam, who posted on our platform: ‘How might we improve maternal health with mobile technologies for low-income countries. while Amnesty International posted: ‘How can technology help people working to uphold human rights in the face of unlawful dention. Anyone could log on and help solve these challenges, and you could work together on the platform. Im really proud of the work I did on that, because it brings together the things Im really interested in: solving big, real-world problems, helping people, and empowering others to solve those problems. “We saw people who were not even in technology come to use the platform. A policeman in Brazil would log on and do this at night. It provided him with skills, in case he wanted to move into a different career. I was very passionate about these kinds of challenges for social good. Ive always had this underlying interest in big, real-world problems. ” After seven years at IDEO, Zhang joined Microsofts Lift London studio, where she developed technology products across the toys, games, wearables, retail and travel sectors. In March 2015, she became Innovation Director at Microsoft Research, Cambridge – one of a series of labs Microsoft runs across the world focusing on technological innovation – starting up a team called Connected Play. “At Microsoft, Ive focused on play and gaming for kids and families to bring physical and digital gaming together, ” Zhang, obviously passionate about her field of work, points out. “There is a huge opportunity for technology to come in and really help, and do something new in these chronic illnesses that have been around for a long time. ” In many ways, Zhang found a second home at the Cambridge lab, which tries to hire the worlds brightest minds and then gives them the freedom to “think outside the box” and take risks with their work. Only by actively following these ideals can the lab push the boundaries of technology and science to help people, according to its director, Chris Bishop. Haiyan Zhang Age: 39 Job: Innovation Director at Microsoft Research, Cambridge Previous roles: IDEO, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Stanford Uni, British Design Council Education: Monash University, Sheridan College, Interaction Design Institute Ivrea Home: London “If we are to make products and services that empower people, we need to have people like Haiyan with highly enquiring minds and the engineering skills to find out what people need and build technology that suits them, ” Bishop, a world-renowned artificial intelligence computer scientist, tells me later that day. “We have incredibly talented people here and a very supportive environment. We also encourage free exploration of ideas and risk-taking, as this is what makes for good research outcomes. “We hire people with a wide range of backgrounds and skills – diversity in our teams is something we strive for. Here at Cambridge we have a team of designers, social scientists, engineers and psychologists who are experts in how people interact with technology. It makes sense that we have these skills included on any team that is working on technology that will one day have contact with a customer. We value highly creative minds as part of a team so that we can encourage totally different approaches to a problem and how to bring the solution to fruition. ” The theme of collaboration crops up regularly during my chat with Zhang; she highlights that Emmas Watch was a team effort. In fact, her presence on The Big Life Fix only came about because a friend thought that her personality and skills would be a good fit for the show. Jude Pullen, an award-winning design engineer who headed up research and development at London start-up Sugru, recommended Zhang to the producers. “We went in and we really werent sure what was going to come out of it; we werent quite sure what the show was going to look like. But the BBC commissioned it and we started filming in December 2015, ” Zhang says. The Big Life Fix was comprised of three episodes, each featuring different members of the public who were experiencing life-limiting circumstances and needed a solution. Episode one starred Zhang and Lawton, as well as a photographer who could no longer use his hands to operate a camera (this was Pullens challenge. Zhang also appears in episode three, helping a family whose two sons have Cystic Fibrosis. She was one of seven experts – three women and four men – who were given the challenge of changing peoples lives. “It was really a side project that I was doing in my spare time, ” Zhang says, before adding that she was on maternity leave, too. She pauses for a long time. “I felt very guilty about that. My baby was three months old and I had to go to Cornwall. I had to get on the train at 7am, go to Cornwall, we would film, then I would get in a van at 6pm and drive back to London for midnight, so I could be back home. ” Those long days filled with work and travel that kept her away from her newborn daughter were tough for Zhang. “I dont know how I did it. I had a lot of help from colleagues, and I would try to do weekends. So I would go to Cambridge on a Saturday and spend the whole day hacking stuff together. My mum was here for six months, too, which helped a lot. She lives in Australia. ” One of those colleagues was Nicolas Villar, a researcher at the Cambridge lab who specialises in connected play and improving the experience of interacting with technology. Surprised and intrigued that aids for Parkinsons tremors were still theoretical, he worked with Zhang off-camera to develop the Emma Watch. “I met Emma and she had lots of ideas that she wanted to try – pens that would dampen vibrations, mechanical constructions, ” Villar says. “We brainstormed other things that I could help with and one of the things she was interested in was vibrations on the wrist. I helped them put together a test rig with lots of wires and connected to a computer. “It looked promising but for someone to really see if it works they need to live with it and try it as part of their daily life and routine, especially as Emma said her tremors would change throughout the day. ” Before the watch was created, Lawton had tried to work around her Parkinsons symptoms, which were erratic to say the least: “Parkinsons is so weird, one moment you can be all over the place, quivering, and the next minute you can be fine. ” She would use her left hand, or draw with oversized pens and paper in the office because “if you do things big enough, the tremor is minimal”. However, Lawton quickly realised that this “solution” wasnt practical. She had started looking at alternative careers but was resisting the move because drawing “is the way I am; its always been what I have done”. At home, in East London, it was a similar story. But Lawton discovered that she had a small amount of time in the middle of the night where she had no tremor at all. So, she would get out of bed and get ready for work before the symptoms started again. “If I wake up at 5am, those first five minutes after I first wake up, I have no tremor. Its bizarre. I do my eyeliner and paint my nails at five in the morning. I did my Christmas cards at five in the morning, too. My boyfriend woke up and said: ‘What are you doing? Youre crazy! But thats not a sustainable thing, its not practical. I cant do all my work at that time of night. I wasnt in any way fixing it. ” Then came the moment Lawton had been hoping for since her diagnosis at 29, three years earlier. More than a million people across the UK watched their televisions as Zhang and Simon Reeve, the shows presenter, sat Lawton down on a sofa and handed her a small, black box. Inside it was the watch. Lawton admits she was “frightened” the device wouldnt work – not because of Zhangs work but because Parkinsons is so unpredictable – and she would feel as if she had let Zhang down. But all that fear vanished when her pen touched the paper and she wrote a perfect, single word: Emma. Then she burst into tears of happiness. “Its a bit of a modern-day miracle – someone not being able to write and draw and then being able to do it again, ” Lawton says. “And the watch continues to work. It fills me with joy that it wasnt just a one-off, a fluke. I get foot cramps, so Im going to try wearing it around the house on my ankle and see whether that helps. You never know. “For now, it has given me control of my career back, and Im the one who decides how long I want to be a designer for. I dont think Haiyan realises how much she has done for me. ” Everyone involved in the watch is keen on developing it for a wider market, but thats a long road full of trials, data and research papers. It could be many years before a viable product for those with Parkinsons even emerges from a lab, let alone finds its way to companies who can distribute it and then onto the wrists of those who need it. Emma's attempts at writing her name wearing the watch (right) and without it (left) While, at least for now, the technological advancement of the watch may have slowed down, Zhang certainly hasnt. As if creating one potentially life-changing device wasnt enough, in episode three of The Big Life Fix she came up with an aid for people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF. Vicky Coxhead is a mother of four, two of whom have CF. Zhang, now a mum herself, quickly realised that she needed to create a solution that not only helped 16-year-old Aiden and 13-year-old Morgan cope with their condition, but also Vicky, too. “[Becoming a mother has] definitely helped me relate better to Vicky and her situation. I understand what shes going through. I was saying as we were doing this project that we needed to make a fix for the boys but we really wanted to make a fix for Vicky, too, because shes the one holding the whole family together, ” Zhang says. CF is an inherited condition that causes the lungs and digestive system to become clogged with mucus, causing breathing problems and other medical issues, and raises the risk of infection. More than 10, 800 people in the UK have CF, and must spend hours undergoing physiotherapy and taking nebulised treatments and pills each day. Vicky wakes up at dawn, when she starts the first of six sterilisation procedures that day to ensure her sons CF equipment is safe for them to use. When thats finished, its time for the nebuliser, medication and physio – a tedious 30-minute breathing regime using an acapella that loosens the mucus so its easier to cough up, which must be completed three times every day by each boy. Its this last stage thats the hardest for Vicky and her sons, one of whom suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the other from autism, and where Zhang focused her efforts. After spending time with the family and visiting their home in Cornwall, Zhang quickly realised she shared a passion for gaming with Aiden and Morgan, and wondered if she could use that to help them improve their health – as well as give “exhausted” Vicky a break. Vicky's children: from left) Jasmine, nine, Aiden, 16, Finley, 12, and Morgan, 13 “Haiyan connected with the kids straight away, ” Vicky says. “They were amazed that she knew how to work an Xbox. Morgan knows games inside out and was completely gobsmacked by her ideas. I just needed it to be fun for the kids, I wanted them to achieve something. But Haiyan was desperate to create something that would help me, too. ” Zhangs solution was to use a digital pressure sensor to turn the boys acapella into a controller for a video game or real-life car racing set – the longer they blew into it, the further the games character or car moved. Working with design engineer Greg Saul, they prototyped and manufactured a custom set of electronics, along with 3D-printed plastic adaptors for existing CF devices. But to create even a simple game Zhang knew she would need help, so she set up a two-day hackathon in which designers and programmers would volunteer to create betas. The result was a prototype, several games and “the most interesting thing to happen in airway clearance for a long time”, according to CF physiotherapy expert Professor Eleanor Main. Zhang also created an online dashboard for Vicky that shows the progress her sons are making with their physiotherapy and exercise regimes. “My approach was to empower other people to help create this bigger solution, because I saw that the fix was about this bigger system: there had to be a device, there needed to be multiple games and there needed to be a cloud service where the data could be uploaded and you could monitor it over time. I built aspects of that but I couldnt build all of it. So the fix was really about setting up a cause or movement to get people involved. ” I just needed it to be fun for the kids, I wanted them to achieve something. But Haiyan was desperate to create something that would help me, too – Vicky Coxhead If Zhang needed a reminder of how important her mission was, she had to hand the finished product to the Coxheads in a hospital. Morgan had developed an infection and needed professional treatment. Despite lying a hospital bed, his immediate medical issues were soon forgotten when Zhang handed him the digital acapella and a tablet. Both boys loved her solution. “Its going to change our lives, ” Vicky said. “We have had no fights to do physio. Morgan is taking responsibility for it himself, so he will go and get it without being asked. Its something he wants to do because its fun, and I couldnt have asked for more than that. ” But Zhang is already thinking of the bigger picture and the next step in the acapellas evolution. “I think the real winner is someone taking this forward and doing the next version of the electronics and the prototypes and making it available to more families, ” she says. Zhang flashes another positive smile and a nod, before adding: “Im so happy to see these boys so happy. ” And true to form, she rushes off to her next meeting, where she will try to help someone else.

The gift arrives in the nervous hands of its inventor. She aches for her creation to work. If it does, one life will change immediately, and maybe thousands of lives will change later. Shes wrapped the box in glitter paper. Because Emma Lawton adores all things sparkly. The inventor, Haiyan Zhang, 39, hands over the box. Then she holds her breath. Lawton, 33, smiles and tears open the wrapping paper. To her, the June day feels like a Christmas morning from childhood. Inside the box is a Windows 10 tablet in a pink, leopard-print case. “Oh, my God, ” Lawton thinks, “its me. ” That tablet is connected to a special wristwatch, which Zhang gently places around Lawtons right wrist. The Emma Watch and a special Windows 10 tablet that controls it. Engraved on the watch is a name – “emma” – in breezy lettering that, to Lawtons eyes, looks eerily similar to her own handwriting. Impossible, however. Shes been unable to write legibly for years due to hand tremors caused by Parkinsons disease. Lawton, a graphic designer, was diagnosed with the movement disorder in 2013, destroying her ability to do two things sacred to her: drawing letters and lines. Those losses inspired Zhang, a Microsoft researcher, to spend months studying Parkinsons disease while building and testing prototypes that could, she hoped, temporarily short-circuit the hand tremors, allowing Lawton to write her own name again. Thats why the two women now huddle closely in Lawtons London flat, staring at the only watch of its kind. “There was a lot hanging in that moment. Would it work? ” Lawton recalls later. “I could see she was scared. I felt like I was going to cry. But you always have that little hope that somebody is going to make something thats going to make your life a little easier. ” Zhang presses a button on the tablet, activating the watch. Lawton puts pen to paper. ♦♦♦♦♦ They met in London – two designers who quickly connected with the others life story. Zhang was born in China. At age 9, she migrated with her parents to Australia where she was the only Asian child in her primary school, an oddity to classmates. As an outsider, the once vocal and confident girl lost her strong voice, and it took a l0ng time to find it again, she wrote in a blog. Eventually, in the world of technology, Zhang soared. She joined Microsoft in 2012, initially leading an innovation team in one of the Xbox gaming studios, excited by the tech potential for new forms of play. “I was really excited to have someone so clever work on my challenge, ” Lawton says. “Shes one of the smartest people I know. ” Lawton was born in Bedfordshire, a county in the east of England. She dreamed of acting but ultimately fell in love with design, pursuing that as a career. By her late 20s, Lawtons right arm began to have “a mind of its own, ” she wrote in her book, “Dropping the P Bomb. ” Parkinsons was the cause. Hand tremors, which Lawton describes as sometimes “going whole hog, ” are a primary symptom of her progressive disease – one that affects more than 10 million in the world. “Emmas the real inspiration in terms of how shes managing this condition and succeeding, ” Zhang says. “Its challenging enough being a woman in technology in the workplace. For her to take on this additional challenge, its amazing to me. ” As they got to know one another, the question became: Could Zhangs tech skills help alleviate Lawtons loss of writing function? Certainly, that challenge meshed with Zhangs passion: technology for good, the idea that society can advance through tech evolution. Shes equally drawn to the Maker movement, a global culture that blends DIY sensibilities with modern engineering, fueling altruistic folks to devise and share innovations that help the world. Zhang infuses that spirit into her job, innovation director at Microsoft Research Cambridge in England. Shes involved in initiatives spanning the play and health spaces. For example, her team is developing a project called Fizzyo, a connected device for kids with Cystic Fibrosis that turns their daily physiotherapy exercises into a video game experience. Shes also working with colleagues to develop Project Torino, a set of physical blocks that helps children with visual impairments learn computer programming. Lawton, in turn, saw tangible hope in a woman with a mind bright enough to unsnarl brain complexities and a will strong enough to make a fresh assault on a very old problem. Lawton was also open to trying anything, decrying a lack of new Parkinsons treatments during her lifetime – as well as medications that can make her days harder by triggering more symptoms. Lawtons pen, with help from the Emma Watch, depicts a tech philosophy she shares with Zhang. “Technology is sliding in lately and helping with the symptomatic relief and to make life easier, ” Lawton says. “Thats where Im interested. The whole idea of tech for good. “But more than anything, I just wanted to be able to write my name properly. ” The moment of truth begins with two surprised gasps. “Oooh! Oooh! ” Lawton chirps, feeling the watch start to vibrate through her right wrist. She uses her left hand to place a green marker in her right. Then she attempts to draw the first letter in her name. She doesnt expect it to work. It does. With the tremors reduced, Lawton pens a perfectly round “e. ” The other three letters follow, equally tidy. She cries, something she does when shes happy. Zhang puts her hand to her mouth and utters, “Oh my God. ” “So many things are rushing through my head, all banging around in there, ” Lawton recalls later. “Like, is this a one-off? Im excited and nervous, is it from that? Im forgetting I have a tremor. “I look at Haiyan and shes shell-shocked too. But then Im panicking: Will it happen again? ” It does. Lawton next draws a straight line. Then a small square. Then a larger rectangle. All are crisp and sharp. The two collaborators hug. Then Lawton phones her mother to report the news – and to tell her the device is officially called “the Emma Watch. ” The moment was recorded for a BBC documentary show, “The Big Life Fix. ” “I was in disbelief, ” Zhang recalls. “As someone who works in technology and thinks about new kinds of things, I dont really see the impact of that on peoples lives or on an individual. For me, it was so powerful to see her life made better. ” “To be able to write your name is a basic human right, ” Lawton says later. “To be able to do it and do it neatly is really special to me now. Its empowering. It made me feel that I could do anything. ” Nearly a year later, Lawton wears the Emma Watch at her jobs, using it for sketch projects. She works at Parkinsons UK as a device, apps and gadgets strategist. She also works as a design strategy consultant for a company that educates the tourism industry about digital transformation. “Its still a surprise to me when my handwriting comes out the other side of it, ” says Lawton, who is posting daily video blogs for one year about her “adventures with Parkinsons. ” “The device doesnt stop my tremor. It gives me some control there. The writing, its not going to be perfect. But, my God, its better. ” That advance is fueling Zhang to take the tech further, perhaps improving quality of life for many more people living with Parkinsons disease. Shes collaborating on a new initiative, Project Emma, exploring the use of sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and monitor the complex symptoms associated with the disorder – from body rigidity and gait slowness to falling and tremors. Another Emma Lawton creation: sketching her own words into ink. Zhang and her colleagues are proposing to develop new technologies for detecting and counteracting Parkinsons symptoms, including the opportunity for machine learning technology and models to quantify Parkinsons symptoms – and strategies for neutralizing those symptoms. The new technology, she envisions, would work on-device and in the cloud. As for the Emma Watch, Zhang is still researching precisely why and how it helps its namesake. But she believes the device hacks the brain. In people with Parkinsons, the brain fires off extra signals to muscles, creating a chaotic, internal feedback loop that causes muscles to essentially panic and perform many movements at once. That creates tremors. The vibrations from the watch seem to cause Lawtons brain to focus on her right wrist, apparently reducing the brains messages to that spot. “Its like injecting white noise into that feedback loop in order to disrupt it, ” Zhang says. The pattern of the vibration is also important. For Lawton, a rhythmic vibration is effective. (A specially designed app in Emmas Windows 10 tablet controls vibration speed. For other people, a more random rhythm may work better, Zhang says. However it works, she knows shes onto something. Lawton does, too. “Its a huge opportunity to potentially change some lives, ” Lawton says. Left, Lawtons letters without the watch. On the right, a hand steadied by the watch. 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 Parkinsons, producing promising results for three, spurring the idea forward, she says. Zhang also collaborated with Nicolas Villar, a senior researcher in the Microsoft Cambridge Lab. They tested the idea of generating vibrations on the wrist, turning it into a wearable. “We wanted to make something that we felt Emma would be happy to use and wear – we didnt want it to look or feel like a medical device, ” Villar says. “It also had to work robustly enough that she could rely on using it when she needed to. “Seeing how happy Emma has been with the watch, and how well it has worked for her, has been extremely satisfying and motivating to further understand how we may be able to develop this idea to help others, ” Villar says. Next, to streamline and optimize the Emma Watch – and scale the technology – Zhang is working with a neuroscience team in London. Theyre setting up initial trials for the device. Lawton remains a key part of that study, working as a consultant. Zhang and Lawton continue their collaboration. “Ive been chatting with Emma, Parkinsons researchers and experts to put together a deeper piece of research on how AI and wearables can better support people with Parkinsons to manage their symptoms and medication intake, ” Zhang says. “This would be an extension of the original Emma Watch project but could be quite an impactful piece of work. At the moment, its still only in the proposal stage. “Emmas helping us initially with our neuroscience study, consulting on her experiences with the device. Shes really our first subject, ” Zhang says. “Beyond that, were chatting about how technology can help in managing Parkinsons day to day. ” That research – coupled with Zhangs long-standing interest to see technology improve health globally – dovetails with Microsofts accessibility mission, says Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsofts chief accessibility officer. “Disability doesnt discriminate and can impact any of us at any time, ” Lay-Flurrie says. “Innovations like Project Emma clearly embody that mission. Its so inspiring to see how technology can break down barriers and help people achieve the things they care about. Emmas face really says it all. Seeing that expression of joy, emotion and empowerment. Thats why we come to work every day. ” The hope fueled by the Emma Watch, Lawton says, is equally “amazing and overwhelming. ” The promise of the Emma watch – in Lawtons handwriting. Shes willing to continue testing her body for the technology, including perhaps undergoing a brain scan while writing with the watch, Lawton says. That could help pinpoint where its working in her brain, reverse engineering those effects from the top down. Meanwhile, shes found the device doesnt steady her hand for tasks like typing or applying eyeliner, underscoring the diseases stubborn mysteries. This much Lawton knows: She does not like to be without the device bearing her name. “Im scared to take it off, scared of breaking it, ” Lawton says. “Because there is only one. ” Top photo: Emma Lawton, wearing the Emma Watch, writes as Haiyan Zhang checks out the results. All photos by Brian Smale.

YouTube. The Emma Watch is a wrist-worn wearable that reduces constant limb tremors associated with Parkinson's. Image: screenshot: microsoft Smartwatches may not be as hot as they used to be, but that doesn't mean wrist-worn wearables are dead altogether. Far from it, actually. Take the Emma Watch, a wrist wearable created by Microsoft Research Innovation Director Haiyan Zhang that's designed to help reduce the hand tremors people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease live with. With the Emma Watch, Zhang was able to help graphic designer Emma Lawton, who has Parkinson's, write and sketch again. It's this mission to use technology to empower the human condition that is at the heart of everything Microsoft does, CEO Satya Nadella said at this year's Build developers conference. Introduced on the BBC's The Big Life Fix last December, the Emma Watch has catapulted Zhang to fame. The reception for the Emma Watch has been overwhelmingly positive and she says she's received hundreds of messages from people interested in the device. With no cure to Parkinson's and slow advances in medical and surgical solutions that have yet to yield any sweeping improvements, researchers and developers like Zhang are turning to technology to fill the void. According to Microsoft, the Emma Watch employs "vibrating motors — similar to those found in mobile phones — to distract the brain into focusing on something other than trying to control the patients limbs. " The Emma Watch is bulky, but who cares? Its utility more than makes up for it. The motors create vibrations to counter a Parkinson's patient's tremors, effectively stabilizing them. Lawton credits the Emma Watch's stabilization for restoring her ability to write and draw again — skills she needs as a graphic designer. Without the Emma Watch on (left) and with the Emma Watch on (right. Image: microsoft If not for Zhang's invention, Lawton says she would have given up on being a graphic designer and looked for another career where her tremors wouldn't negatively impact her work. "Its a bit of a modern-day miracle — someone not being able to write and draw and then being able to do it again. Lawton says. "And the watch continues to work. It fills me with joy that it wasnt just a one-off, a fluke. I get foot cramps, so Im going to try wearing it around the house on my ankle and see whether that helps. You never know. " Though the Emma Watch is a game changer, there's still a long way to go — "many years" — before it can be commercialized, which is admittedly a bummer. Still, that Zhang was able to use technology to create a solution that works better than existing medical or surgical solutions is promising, and opens the door for more developers to do the same.

Published 5:10 p. m. ET May 10, 2017, Updated 2:11 p. ET May 11, 2017 CLOSE Its called “The Invoke. ” SAN FRANCISCO — Tech company developer conferences always feature a wacky demo or three. But at Build 2017 in Seattle Wednesday, Microsoft went for the waterworks at the conclusion of CEO Satya Nadella's keynote address: it showcased a prototype watch that temporarily eliminated the arm shaking that often plagues those suffering from the neurological disease Parkinson's. After a speech that both heralded and warned about coming leaps in technological power, Nadella screened a video that told the story of two British Microsoft Research employees, Haiyan Zhang and Nicolas Villa, who developed the tremor-interrupting device for a BBC documentary, The Big Life Fix. Working with graphic designer and Parkinson's sufferer Emma Lawton, 32, the researchers developed a watch — which they named Emma — that, according to Microsoft, vibrates in a distinctive pattern to disrupt the feedback loop between brain and hand. The video showed Lawton trying to draw a square with her shaky right hand, and then again, wearing Emma. Watson erupts in tears as she calls her mother to say this is the first time she's been able to write her name in ages. When the lights went up, Nadella welcomed both Lawton and engineer Zhang on stage, thanking them for showing that thanks "developers can have impact. Emma Watch remains a prototype, Microsoft says, but the developers are working with a neuroscience research team to undertake trials with a small group of Parkinson's sufferers. The watch works through a combination of sensors and AI (artificial intelligence) techniques to potentially detect and monitor symptoms like tremors, stiffness and instability, among others, according to Microsoft. "Once these symptoms can be identified and measured, its possible to develop technology and devices that help humans manage their symptoms. AI is used to classify the sensor information and elicit real-time responses on small devices like wearables. Microsoft stresses that Emma Watch is not a cure for the disease, which afflicts 10 million people. "Rather, its technology has the potential to help Parkinsons patients manage symptoms that impede regular functions. The goal of further research is to determine whether Emma Watch could help other people with similar Parkinsons symptoms. Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter. Read or Share this story.

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Project Emma is a wearable device initially created to help a specific person suffering from Parkinsons, Emma Lawton, to compensate for the intentional tremors in her hands. Project Emma is named after Emma, who was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinsons at age 29. This designer and creative director was afraid the diagnosis would mean the end of her career, since drawing and writing were difficult with her constant tremors. This invention started as part of an engagement with the BBC documentary series The Big Life Fix. Haiyan Zhang, Innovation Director at Microsoft Research Cambridge, was tapped by the show to develop a biomedical device that might help Emma. Her team developed the Emma Watch technology, which has helped Emma regain control of her hand in performing simple drawing and writing tasks. She now looks forward to continuing her graphic design career for many decades. How Project Emma works The Emma Watch technology introduces a rhythmic vibration effect through small motors around the wrist. Designed with interchangeable wrist straps, the watch as currently envisioned addresses the whole human: it is both practical and stylish. While the specific therapeutic mechanism is still unknown, one theory suggests that the ability to move is regulated by a sensorimotor feedback loop, involving the perception of movement and position of the body. The tremor symptom could arise from an erroneous feedback loop, where the brain is overcompensating for an initial movement error, resulting in a continuous tremor. The injection of vibration by the Emma Watch introduces white noise that short-circuits this erroneous feedback loop, stopping the brain from sensing the initial error and trying to overcompensate. While this project is in the research stage only, the Microsoft Research team is undertaking further tests of its effectiveness on other Parkinsons patients, and investigating other non-invasive, wearable interventions. Today, the Emma Watch works for Emmas specific symptoms; our research team continues to explore how this kind of haptic technology may more people suffering from movement disorders. Project Emma continues to be a research exploration. Microsoft Research pushes the boundaries of research in diverse areas, although not all projects may be pursued beyond the research prototype stage. How a Watch Helped Emma Write Again —Microsoft News Centre UK Haiyan Zhang has created a life-changing device for a woman with Parkinsons “It was incredibly traumatic but exciting at the same time. There was so much fear and emotion hanging in that moment. I wanted it to work so badly. ” Emma Lawton is 33, and one of the 2% of people with Parkinsons… Microsoft's Project Emma is a wearable that helps with Parkinson's tremors —The Verge Microsoft has created a watch that the company says can help people with Parkinsons disease write more clearly. The Emma Watch sends vibrations to the brain that help control hand tremors. Microsoft unveiled the watch during its Build conference. Its only a prototype for now, but it could represent… Microsoft's Project Emma helps people with Parkinson's Disease —Windows Central Approximately 10 million people around the world are living with Parkinsons Disease. Microsoft doesnt have a cure, but its Emma Watch can help alleviate one of the diseases most troubling symptoms. Parkinsons is a progressive brain disease which is the result of brain cells dying. The disease… ‘Project Emma tremor-reducing watch unveiled by Microsoft CEO —Parkinsons Life Haiyan Zhang, innovation director at Microsoft Research, and Emma Lawton, a 33-year-old graphic designer who lives with Parkinsons, unveiled a tremor-reducing wristwatch device at the prestigious Microsoft Build 2017 conference last month. Emma explained that the prototype wearable has allowed… Microsoft shows off watch that quiets Parkinson's tremors —USA Today Tech company developer conferences always feature a wacky demo or three. But at Build 2017 in Seattle Wednesday, Microsoft went for the waterworks at the conclusion of CEO Satya Nadellas keynote address: it showcased a prototype watch that temporarily eliminated the arm shaking that often plagues those suffering… Gavin Jancke General Manager - Engineering, Research Manager Greg Saul Creative Technologist.

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