Comment by erlehmann_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by erlehmann_ | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

In the article, Hayan Zhang is described as a researcher. She (claims to have) created a device that improves the quality of life of people who have Parkinson's. The device seems to have been built with easily obtainable components. Similar effects to the one she exploits have been described scientifically [0], although it seems questionable if the result comes from the vibration [1].

Expecting publication of source code from a researcher seems appropriate to me. From another article about the “Emma device” [2]:

> Haiyan has no plans to commercialize the technology, but hopes other researchers will take on the project and run with it. “I think it warrants more trials,” she noted. “It definitely works for Emma. I’m amazed how well it works for her.”

How can others improve on her work when it is not published? To me it looks like this invention is milked for PR as much as possible, while details about implementation are scarce. That device helps only one person right now, while potential is there to help a lot of people.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20037223

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23939405

[2] https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researcher-creates-wearabl...

I can see where you got your expectations from. You should reach out to the researcher. Maybe they can tell you why it's not OSS. I'd not be surprised if it was some mix of medical devices being a special case, and the IP being owned by Microsoft.

I wrote Hayan Zhang the following Email with the subject line “Source code & schematics for Parkinson's device?”:

Hello Hayan Zhang,

I have read several articles about the “Emma device” you have built, but could not find any details. Have you published source code & schematics?

The BBC has a GitHub repository for code related to the documentary. The one open issue on it is from a person who wants to help their father who has been affected by Parkinson's <https://github.com/bbc/MiD/issues/3>:

> I am hoping to design a similar item to help my father with both > writing, and potentially in continuing other activities that his > Parkinson's is starting to inhibit, and while the Big Life Fix episode > covering it gave some hints at the details, there wasn't that much > concrete information.

In a Reddit thread, other people also want to know how the “Emma device” works and built it for their relatives who are afflicted by Parkinson's: <https://www.reddit.com/r/Parkinsons/comments/5hh2fx/emmas_wa...

Since you seem to have zero interest in commercializing your findings, I do not understand why the information on the details seems hard to find. Have you published something (like a scientific article) on the subject?

Greetings,

No answer. I wrote to Hayan Zhang <haiyan@gmail.com> btw.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com