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Gallery: The Bionic Human Circa 2011

Posted 8.18.11 at 3:10 pm 4 Comments

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Hand: Otto Bock

via BBC

Back in May, a Serbian man embarked on a journey we ourselves don't have the cojones for: he cut off his own hand to have it replaced with a bionic one. To be fair, "Milo," as he's pseudonymically known, was in a terrible motorcycle accident some ten years earlier, skidding from his bike shoulder-first into a lamppost, so it wasn't exactly a cosmetic choice. After many surgeries, he regained much of the use of his arm--but not his right hand, which remained paralyzed. This year, he opted for surgery to replace his now-useless hand with a prosthesis.

Like DARPA's robotic arm, this prosthetic hand from German company Otto Bock boasts naturally-controlled movement. In this case, you don't even have to connect the nerves from the arm to the hand--it's sensitive enough to pick up signals via two sensors placed on his forearm, picking up nerve stimuli very similar to those that trigger movement in organic hands. The Otto Bock hand boasts three degrees of movement (rotation, bending/flexion, and extension) and can both pinch and perform a full-hand grip. There's always room for improvement, as this video shows, but it's a remarkably capable device.

Milo wasn't the first to volunteer to be fitted with an Otto Bock hand--the same surgeon, Austrian Dr. Oskar Aszmann, performed this surgery about a year before on a man named Patrick with a similarly dead hand, this time due to electrocution. Patrick can now tie his shoes and open bottles, which are two of my favorite activities. If it's good enough for these men, it's certainly good enough for me.

Current status: Available now.

Runners-Up: The Stark hand, the i-LIMB

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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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