BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - Robots hold promise for a large number of people with neurological movement disorders severely affecting the quality of their lives. Now researchers have tapped artificial intelligence techniques to build an algorithmic model that will make the robots more accurate, faster, and safer when battling hand tremors. Their model, which is ready for others to deploy, appears this month in Scientific Reports, an online journal of Nature. The international team reports the most robust techniques to date to characterize pathological hand tremors symptomatic of the common and debilitating motor problems affecting a large number of aging adults. One million people throughout the world have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, just one of the neurodegenerative diseases that can cause hand tremors. While technology such as sophisticated wearable exoskeleton suits and neurorehabilitative robots could help people offset some involuntary movements, these robotic assistants need to precisely predict involuntary movements in real-time - a lag of merely 10 or 20 milliseconds can thwart effective compensation by the machine and in some cases may even jeopardize safety.

Now in its early stages, artificial intelligence is on the cusp of going mainstream. There are some cool AI-based gadgets and apps on the market, but the next step in AI's evolution is the development of gadgets that are useful in day-to-day life. This doesn't necessarily mean "smart" -- just practical. While AI will no doubt continue to improve as technology progresses, there are a handful of helpful devices and gadgets you can get your hands on now. Here is a quick look at six of the best.

Microsoft has developed a vibrating watch that alleviates the hand tremors of sufferers of Parkinson's disease. The'Emma Watch', named after the Parkinson's sufferer it was designed for, was showcased at Microsoft's Build 2017 conference in Seattle yesterday. The prototype device works by sending tiny vibrations into the wearer's wrist, which disrupts the feedback loop between the brain and the hand that causes the tremors. Microsoft has developed a vibrating watch (pictured) that alleviates the hand tremors of sufferers of Parkinson's disease Microsoft's Emma Watch works via a combination of motion sensors and artificial intelligence. This allows the watch to sense and react to symptoms like tremors, stiffness and instability, among others, according to Microsoft.