Posts tagged Bionic at Switched

Posts with tag bionic

Dog Gets $18K Bionic Leg

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 19th 2008 at 5:15PM

We understand that dog is supposed to man's best friend, but we couldn't possibly imagine dropping nearly 20 grand on a bionic leg for one of our beloved pups. Don't get us wrong, we love our canine companions, but we could buy a pretty nice car or dig ourselves out of credit card debt with that kinda cash.

We assume that Reg Walker has money to spare since he spent £10,000 (a little more than $18,000) to fit his eight-and-a-half-year-old American Bulldog, Coal, with a specially-designed prosthetic limb. What makes the implant unique is that the titanium alloy used mimics animal hide, so the skin and bone will grow and seal the prosthetic to Coal's body.

The successful surgery means that Coal can return to his normal place by his owners side. "He goes everywhere with me - he goes on tour, he's the only dog to have allowed into Live 8 and the only dog that has ever been backstage at the Royal Albert Hall," Walker said.

That's one lucky dog! [From: Daily Mail]

Exoskeletons Available for Pre-Order

by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 30th 2008 at 5:02PM

Wired had you covered if you were wondering how to become a Batman-esque superhero with a belt full of fancy gadgets. But what if you wanted to take on a more fanciful and imposing set of powers like those of the sleek metal-suited Iron Man? Well, Berkeley Bionics has started taking orders for prototypes of their Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) exoskeletons.

Berkeley Bionics has spent the last several years developing and working to perfect their exoskeletons, which augment both a person's lifting strength and endurance. With the HULC device, a person can carry up to 200 pounds without seriously impeding their mobility while using up to 15 percent less oxygen to bear the weight, increasing the length of time a person would be able to haul such a load.

The military is clearly the intended target of the demonstration video, but the technology also has value to the medical community -- the exoskeleton may one day help those with mobility disorders escape the confines of a wheelchair. [Source: Berkley Bionics, Via: New Scientist]

Eagle, Dolphin, and Other Animals Going Bionic

by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 7th 2008 at 11:45AM

You may not be aware, but prosthetics aren't just for humans anymore. Oh no, now medical artisans spend quality time designing and fitting wild creatures with replacement parts after tragic accidents.

Braces to help dogs walk are nothing new, but some adventurous body part sculptors are taking on more demanding project like a new beak for a bald eagle and a tail for a dolphin. One DIY'er even strapped a pair of model airplane wheels to his turtle after its rear legs had been crushed by a car.

The prosthetics are far from perfect. In fact, they're barely functional. Winter got her new dolphin tail so she could swim, but will never be able to return to the wild. The same is true for Beauty, the bald eagle who lost his beak to a bullet back in 2002. His new bill will allow him to eat food with out the assistance of caretakers with forceps, but he'll never be able to hunt or rip apart fish again. [Sources: Daily Mail, AP/AOL News, Make, National Geographic]

New Bionic Hand Good Enough for Typing

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 24th 2008 at 11:04AM

New Prosthetic Hand Nibmle Enough for Typing

Unfortunately, there's a shocking number of Iraqi war veterans returning home every day as amputees, due to shrapnel from improvised explosive devices and other battlefront dangers. Those veterans are becoming a tragic statistic, but they're also driving advances in prosthetic technology.

Covered briefly by Engadget last summer, latest innovation is a new prosthetic hand from a company called Touch Bionics. It not only has five independently movable fingers, but also has controls so precise that wearers can use a keyboard or pick up fragile things.

The hand, called the i-LIMB, relies on muscle movements on the wearer's forearm to control the individual fingers. It also applies pressure back to the user's skin to let them know how much force is being applied to whatever object is being picked up. So, while wearers can't exactly "feel" what they're grasping or interacting with, they at least can control their prosthetic hands as if they could.

The hands are not prototypes and can be purchased now -- assuming you can afford the $17,500 price tag. Between this new hand, a competing bionic hand created by German researchers, and the bionic eye implant from earlier this week, it's clear to see that technology is giving those with disabilities, either due to genetics or war, new reasons for hope. [Source]: LiveScience]

Bionic Eye Implant May Give Sight to Blind

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 3:14PM

Electronic Eye Implant May Give Sight to Blind

Retinitis pigmentosa is a debilitating genetic condition indicating severe retina deterioration. Those affected by it with suffer from reduced vision or, in many cases, total blindness. There is no known cure, so a diagnosis (often made during childhood) usually means inevitable loss of vision years or even decades later. That may be changing, though, with a prototype eye implant that may provide some level of sight to those with little or none.

The implant is a small panel that is implanted on the patient's retina. The panel contains a number of electrodes that, when activated, stimulate the remaining nerves on the person's retina. There may not be enough nerves left for normal sight but, when paired with this sensor, some level of vision can be returned. The sensor communicates wirelessly with a camera built into a pair of glasses.

Thus far, only two patients have received the device and the researchers behind it aren't talking about how they're progressing, but you can be sure there are many, many people eagerly awaiting the results. [Source: BBC]

Monkeys Control Robot Legs - With Their Minds (Video)

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 26th 2008 at 5:07PM

The scientists at Duke University must be stopped! Researchers have created an unholy alliance, bringing together the two biggest threats to human dominance of the planet Earth (outside ourselves) -- monkeys and robots.

The researchers' motivations are innocent, however. The scientists put electrodes in the brains of two rhesus monkeys then stuck them on a tread mill. Wait -- this gets better. The electrodes were then connected to a pair of robotic legs that moved as the monkeys thought about walking. Even when the treadmills stopped the monkeys were able to keep the robotic legs in motion for several minutes with just the power of their minds.

While this may sound like the plot of a Sci-Fi film about science gone awry, the research is actually aimed at restoring mobility to those who suffer paralysis. By understanding how the brain controls legs, researchers hope to develop robotic leg braces that humans will be able to control with their minds.

A noble cause, but we're still gonna have nightmares about bionic chimps.

From TechDigest

Related links:

One Step Closer to the Bionic Man

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 24th 2007 at 12:11PM

The 'Six MillionDollar Man' may be ready sooner than you think.

U.S. Scientists are conducting research that may one day lead to the creation of a bionic eye. This optical prosthetic could one day restore vision to those who suffer from glaucoma and other vision-inhibiting diseases.

After training monkeys to look at points of light, researchers inserted ultra-thin electrodes into their brains to stimulate the areas that process visual information. The scientists were able to cause the monkeys to move their eyes the same way they would when following the points of light.

Plenty of hurdles must be overcome, however. In order to create a high enough resolution image for humans to recognize patterns in the real world, the number of electrodes implanted will have to be increased by a factor of at least 100.

Eventually, the patient would wear a pair of glasses with a built-in digital camera that would wirelessly transmit data to a device inside the brain. This device would stimulate the electrodes implanted in the visual cortex to -- finally -- create images that represent what's going on in the real world.

Not quite Steve Austin's X-ray-like vision, but a mind-blowing possibility nontheless.

From BBC

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