Futurist Foresight - Applied Technotopia

DIY bionics as a step towards fully integrated neural linked systems.

alexob:

DIY bionics - making kids smile again.

See the joy in Liam’s eyes as he is grasping a ball with his right hand for the first time. By the time this cute fellow grows up, he will have a bionic hand that will be connected to his neural-system and be indistinguishable from his biological body; but all Liam cares about for now his being able to play ball. 

Bionic prosthetics that can be controlled via a mobile app.

futurescope:

Bionic App

via NewScientist:

The powered thumb is controlled by signals from the user’s arm muscles or - in a first for upper limb prostheses - via a smartphone app: a tap of the screen and the hand automatically arranges itself into a preset grip. The thumb can move into 24 different positions and new, extra-sensitive fingertip electrodes also give improved dexterity.

“Powered thumb rotation, combined with the mobile app and quick access to all these new grips, gives me natural hand function that I never imagined would be possible,” says Bertolt Meyer, who wears one of the new hands.

The app makes it easy to configure presets by group, such as “work”, which includes positions ready for typing, handling documents or using a mouse. The app also includes diagnostic tools and training modes for new users.

[read more] [touch bionics] [Image: Murdoch Ferguson/Ferguson Imaging]

Bionics with a sense of touch! What a breakthrough for cybernetics!

neurosciencestuff:

A sensational breakthrough: the first bionic hand that can feel

The first bionic hand that allows an amputee to feel what they are touching will be transplanted later this year in a pioneering operation that could introduce a new generation of artificial limbs with sensory perception.

The patient is an unnamed man in his 20s living in Rome who lost the lower part of his arm following an accident, said Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

The wiring of his new bionic hand will be connected to the patient’s nervous system with the hope that the man will be able to control the movements of the hand as well as receiving touch signals from the hand’s skin sensors.

Dr Micera said that the hand will be attached directly to the patient’s nervous system via electrodes clipped onto two of the arm’s main nerves, the median and the ulnar nerves.

This should allow the man to control the hand by his thoughts, as well as receiving sensory signals to his brain from the hand’s sensors. It will effectively provide a fast, bidirectional flow of information between the man’s nervous system and the prosthetic hand.

“This is real progress, real hope for amputees. It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping,” Dr Micera said.

“It is clear that the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely you will get full acceptance of that limb,” he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston.

“We could be on the cusp of providing new and more effective clinical solutions to amputees in the next year,” he said.

(via fuckyeahrobots)

Another medical step forward with this bionic eye.

holdinghope:

World’s First Bionic Eye Receives FDA Approval

http://goo.gl/SQ36e

The new retinal prosthesis, called Argus II, can restore partial sight to people blinded by a degenerative eye disease. The Argus II works by substituting a small array of electrodes for the light-sensing cells that normally react to light by sending an electric signal toward the back of the retina. Those signals are relayed to the optic nerve behind the eye, and travel back along the nerve to the brain. In people with the genetic disease Retinitis pigmentosa, which affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. today, those light-sensing cells gradually stop working, resulting in total blindness. In addition to the electrode array, which is implanted in the retina at the back of the eye, the Argus II system consists of a small video camera attached to a pair of eyeglasses and a visual processor the user carries around their waist. Data from the video camera is sent to the visual processor and then back to the glasses, where it is transmitted wirelessly to the embedded electrodes.

(via futurescope)

Self-Powered Bionic Eye to Restore Eyesight

discoverynews:

Self-Powered Bionic Eye to Restore Eyesight

A team from Stanford University and the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom has created a thin prosthetic chip from silicon that electrically stimulates neurons in the retina. Unlike other retinal implants, the device is photovoltaic so it wouldn’t require complicated surgery for a battery-powered setup.

keep reading

Simply amazing, the one gentleman dreamt in colour for the first time in 25 years.

wildcat2030:

Two British men who have been totally blind for many years have had part of their vision restored after surgery to fit pioneering eye implants. They are able to perceive light and even some shapes from the devices which were fitted behind the retina. The men are part of a clinical trial carried out at the Oxford Eye Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London. Professor Robert MacLaren and Mr Tim Jackson are leading the trial. The two patients, Chris James and Robin Millar, lost their vision due to a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, where the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually cease to function. The wafer-thin, 3mm square microelectronic chip has 1,500 light-sensitive pixels which take over the function of the photoreceptor rods and cones. The surgery involves placing it behind the retina from where a fine cable runs to a control unit under the skin behind the ear. (via BBC News - Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted)