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Gallery: The Bionic Human Circa 2011

Posted 8.18.11 at 3:10 pm 4 Comments

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Arm: A Brain-Controlled Limb from DARPA

Johns Hopkins University

DARPA's robotic arm is legendary. It's the result of years of work and a whopping $100 million, but it just might be worth it: This arm mimics the natural motion of the arm, elbow, wrist, and hand with 27 different movements (including rotation, bending, and extension) that's at the top of the field. But what's really notable about this particular arm is how it's controlled: DARPA wants to implant a small chip in the brain that would sense and measure the firing of neurons, then convey those commands to the arm, all near-instantaneously.

Basically, this is a mind-controlled robotic arm. It's the followup to the "Luke" arm, the prosthesis developed by Dean Kamen (perhaps best known as the inventor of the Segway), but its thought-control system is far beyond the Luke arm's foot-pedal control. If I was going to rebuild myself, I'd want the natural control of my meaty "birth arm" with the added bonus of superhuman cyborg strength--so thought-controlled arms are a must.

Current status: Last we heard, back in February, the FDA was fast-tracking the project. That could knock years off the development cycle, but we're still an estimated four or five years away from actually using this amazing arm.

Runners-Up: The Luke arm

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Read the article: State of the Bionic Art: The Best Replacements for My Flimsy Human Parts

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4 Comments

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Onihikage

08/23/11 at 5:16 pm

The picture in slide 13 isn't an iron lung, it appears to be either the lung-on-a-chip, or the actual bionic lung discussed in the information area.

The artificial heart that doesn't beat sounds great to me. I've been cursed with the ability to hear my own heartbeat ALL THE TIME, at least in my right ear. It's very distracting. If my heart ever starts to fail, I'd seriously consider this as an option.

That is, if Washington would ever begin to consider the welfare of the poor and unfortunate over the prosperity of the rich. Otherwise very few could afford such a thing.

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Dublin992233

08/23/11 at 6:11 pm

Has anyone studied to see if the other complementary limb provides information that can be used by the lost limb? For instance walking. If my left foot finds I'm walking on sand - and I know I'm walking on sand "I can say that I am" can the combined sets of information be used by the prosthetic? Obviously yes, just wondering if that's been rolled into the mix. Same goes with the height of stairs. If you wore a special sock or sensor on the other foot or maybe a special watch...maybe it could help transmit information such as distance to object, temperature, texture, give...anything. Just a thought. Fascinating advancements. Just fascinating - thank you all for your progress.

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TrulyVisionary

08/24/11 at 2:23 am

The seeker of knowledge who seeks to reach beyond the stars to go where no mans gone before to see things no man has seen and bring these experiences back for the whole world to hear and see.

I would cut my hands and heart and lungs in a heart beat lol
for that stuff the lack of where and tear on the body from old or not fully functioning body parts would mean my life span would increase 2 fold given no anomalies popup like cancer or aid's but yeah i would do it and the DARPA hand i love that thing it's so futuristic i want one now and the lung and heart combo would be a life saver to of the most needed organs virtually age proof

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djmc993150

09/02/11 at 11:20 am

With respect to the bionic lung. This sounds somewhat dangerous. Part of the lungs' function is also fighting airborne diseases. A synthetic blood/air interface that doesnt appear to allow any interaction with the immune system seems to allow unfettered access to the blood for any airborn disease.

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